China is developing a weather-modification system that aims to divert water vapour thousands of miles through the sky and bring rainfall to the country's driest regions. Do you have a story for me? An amusement ride is seen inundated by floodwaters in Sydney. The flight lasted an hour and 34 minutes over the Upper Derwent catchment, targeting Lake Echo. The PUB should constantly monitor the weather patterns and warn the people when a flood is about to occur. A dangerous and bizarre conspiracy theory is circulating that the devastating floods which have torn through Australia's . Figure 1: The area which is primarily targeted for increased precipitation from cloud seeding operations is shown in red (approximately 2110 km). They say it's all part of a government plan to "weaponise" the weather against its own people - a popular conspiracy trope that has been around for years. Like: 'we have the pilots' names, we know where you live, you're going to pay for this,' kind of stuff," Handel told AFP. Nearmap, which analyzes and distributes the companys photos, confirmed in a statement to the AP that the claims associating Handels recent flight with cloud seeding are false. The first cloud seeding trials were carried out by Kraus and Squires (1947) near Sydney. It is not yet known whether these findings also apply to wild conditions. In Australia, cloud seeding is used in some areas to increase surface water runoff for use in the production of hydropower. Often, a compound like Silver Iodine (AgI) is used as the particulate matter, as it is naturally occurring in the world in low concentrations. Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) February 26, 2022 About 18,000 homes in Brisbane and surrounding areas have been flooded and more than 50,000 are without power. Dr. Zou: We want to move the materials, as I mentioned, from laboratory already and scale up, so it has a chance of reaching the market and to reach many different parts of the world as well, because there are so many countries worldwide that practice weather modification. This shows us the risk is real to have two serious flood events in just 11 years is a pretty high frequency for a major city like Brisbane to have to deal with.. But a probe by the Tasmanian government into the 2016 flooding has since been completed, and investigators and expert atmospheric scientists found that cloud seeding by Hydro Tasmania, a government-owned generator of renewable energy, did not contribute to or worsen the heavy rains. My guest today is Dr. Linda Zou, who is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Khalifa University of Science and Technology. Leverage advanced weather intelligence and decisioning tools for your enterprise business. Snowy Hydro also has other criteria for cloud seeding which includes; In addition to these atmospheric conditions, Snowy Hydro also takes into account the amount of water already in the landscape. However, Dr. Zou explains, The cloud-seeding materials used today have been around for many decades. A decades old idea, with todays innovation, might be the answer to help drought-stricken countries and to fight climate change. This means cloud seeding operations happen only during suitable cold weather systems, generally cold fronts between May and October. A Hydro Tasmania spokesperson told the AP that it has since stopped conducting cloud seeding. Read about our approach to external linking. Sydney An Australian aviation company says it has received more than 100 threats following an online conspiracy theory that its pilots unleashed a flooding disaster by cloud seeding. Adkins said the crew involved in the seeding reported some effect . An amusement ride is seen inundated by floodwaters in Sydney, TikTok videos like this one have been watched thousands of times, This 2016 news report has been widely shared on all major social media platforms, UAE to test cloud-busting drones to boost rainfall, How climate is making Australia more unliveable, Devastating floods spur new warning systems, Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Explosive found in check-in luggage at US airport, Whiskey fungus forces Jack Daniels to stop construction, Tulsa massacre survivors granted Ghana citizenship, Messages reveal battle over Covid school policy, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, Covid messages leak a massive betrayal - Hancock, Aboriginal spears taken in 1770 to return to Sydney. How do those compare to cloud seeding materials? We were founded in 1899 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and you can find us in print on the web and at events each year around the world. Theres a small one, a medium one, and a large one. Between 1967 and 1972, during the Vietnam War, it spent roughly $3 million each year on weather modification . Source: Snowy Hydro. Why have certain communities been targeted with geoengineered weather? Experts say no single factor can explain this extreme weather, pointing instead to warmer oceans and saturated soils as contributing factors. To help advance the science, in 2015 the UAE government launched a new initiative, the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science. Cloud seeding is a real thing. At the moment, I'm working collaboratively on a project to evaluate the effects of these materials in the open air. Conventional water resources such as rivers, lakes, and groundwater have become very limited, which is driving scientists and engineers to look for alternative water resources. The area of cooler air in the upper atmosphere drifts into the low pressure trough and starts to deliver record-breaking downpours over Brisbane and its surrounds. This will provide the people with a safety net to fall on, in the event of a flood. The comments below have not been moderated. The natural occurring condensation nuclei are such as dust particles, volcano flash, or pollens. Today, that endeavor is making . These small droplets and crystals usually form around even smaller particles of dust, salt and other aerosols floating in the atmosphere, which are called cloud condensation nuclei. Resources: https: . Dr. Zou leads a groundbreaking research project using nanotechnology to develop cloud-seeding materials. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. We will revisit our evidence and verdict and conduct additional research to verify new information. Our topic today is cloud seeding to increase rainfall. Cloud seeding is still practiced in the Snowy Mountains in NSW today, carried out by Snowy Hydro Limited. Dr. Zou: Yeah. Mar 27, 2022 Cloud Seeding, . An Australian aviation company says it has received more than 100 threats following an online conspiracy theory that its pilots unleashed a flooding disaster by cloud seeding.. Cloud seeding adds small, ice-like particles to clouds. The language they are using such as "rain bombs" is clear enough for me,' a commenter said. Business Lab is a production of MIT Technology Review. Where did it go wrong. Published: 00:57 EDT, 31 March 2022 | Updated: 00:57 EDT, 31 March 2022. An atmospheric research expert told The Associated Press that cloud seeding would not change the dynamics of a cloud enough to cause massive flooding' (https://bit.ly/3NwnqJq). For the third time this year, Sydney has been hit by major floods. Unattached supercooled water vapour molecules in the clouds condense around these particles. China, which already artificially alters its weather over major cities, plans to be able to modify weather over half its territory by 2025, to the alarm of neighbours including India. Covered in this AustraliaOne Update -. However, both are far overshadowed by the disaster of 1804, whose water discharge, with a peak discharge of about 1,200 m3/s, was twice as massive as the 1910 event. As floods devastated Australia's east coast, social media posts accused a pilot of causing the disaster through cloud seeding, a weather modification technique that involves dropping a rain-inducing chemical into clouds. in response calling the claims misinformation and denying that it conducts cloud seeding flights, stating that it only operates an aerial photography aircraft. There are up to 15,000 homes flooded in the city, with 1,544 people in evacuation centres in the south-east. It was a wall of water. These particles act as additional condensation nuclei. If experts complete seeding at the right time, it leads to more moisture supply, which will eventually create rainwater. However, there is no evidence that cloud seeding was responsible for the flood. Ice nucleation is important. Conspiracy theorists spread the false claims after weeks of torrential rains led to deadly east coast floods over the past two months, engulfing homes and sweeping cars from the roads. It will initiate from the thin water layer formed on the surface of the ice nuclease, and the ice will grow rapidly at the expense of the water vapor in the cloud. Cloud seeding was conducted a day before the recent floods in Australia. upcoming events, and more. The aim is to get other innovative projects from scientists in the field of rain enhancement from all over the world, with the winning ideas obtaining a grant of $5 million to work and improve on concepts for a period of three years. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has expressed her concern over the impact of the floods as the state is inundated by rain. Feast to Famine: Mass Floods and Australia's High-Speed Rail. 'It is very obvious. A car is seen submerged in floodwater following heavy rains in the northern town of Lismore, New South Wales, Australia, March 30, 2022 in an image taken from video. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. We know the oceans are getting warmer and that puts more moisture in the atmosphere, and a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture.. Many of the accounts seen by the BBC posting this type of content have also shared other conspiracy theories involving global warming, Covid vaccines, and the Moon landings. Conspiracy theorists spread the false claims on social media after weeks of torrential rains led to deadly east coast floods over the past two months, engulfing homes and sweeping cars from the roads. Brisbane suffered major flooding, along with the cities of Maryborough, Gympie, the Sunshine Coast, Caboolture, Toowoomba, Gatton, Ipswich, Logan City, the . Design thinking was supposed to fix the world. The process works by shooting microscopic particles of silver iodide into existing clouds using land based generators or aircraft. Essentially, we are creating a . The photograph shows two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) DC-3 planes flying above some cumulus clouds. For the third time this year, Sydney has been hit by major floods. "Cloud seeding is a . The condensation nuclei that give birth to clouds are extremely small, measuring around two micrometres, which is about 1/100th the size of a single cloud droplet. Cloud seeding programs in the upper Colorado River Basin, for instance, cost around $1.5 million each year. I'm the Director of Insights, the custom publishing division of MIT Technology Review. Pictured: Homes inundated by floodwater in Lismore, NSW, James Bartolo (pictured) is a former bodybuilder who promotes a range of bizarre conspiracies. You are also pursuing funding initiatives at this point too, for your research. Some areas that flow into the river have had 300mm of rain in just six hours. Through a reverse image search, we found that 7News Melbourne posted the original broadcast on their Facebook page on June 10, 2016, with the caption: "Residents in southern Tasmania want to know why cloud seeding was conducted the day before severe flooding hit the region." Source: nationalparks.nsw.gov.au Some of those he contacted were surprised or angry, Berko said. A Facebook post with over 23K views asserts this claim with footage from a news broadcast about cloud seeding before a severe flood in Southern Tasmania. Cloud condensation nuclei can be introduced into the atmosphere naturally or artificially. The small one could be 20 meters and the large one could be like a building. About as much as eight months' worth of rain has come down in just four days, bringing parts of Australia's largest city to a standstill. Try refreshing this page and updating them one A record-breaking and relentless deluge that lasted days and flooded towns and cities along Queenslands south-east coast, submerging thousands of homes and leaving at least nine people dead. Cloud seeding involves adding small particles into existing clouds to help them grow. I'm your host, Laurel Ruma. We are looking forward to moving the seeding materials from laboratory to the commercial venture for not only cloud seeding applications, but wider applications, such as different weather modification efforts, including agriculture or crop protection, hail, or storm suppression, and the artificial snow making at the ski resort. What are the challenges with then deploying the material out in the real world? When doing so, please reference. Now theyve finally become mainstream. But others were distressed, telling the experienced pilot they had lost everything during the floods and thought the company was responsible. The BoM has said heavy rainfall events will get more intense as the world gets hotter. The fact that the damage and loss of life were so great this time is due to the fact that many more people live in . Right-wing media, MPs and groups are downplaying climate change's link to floods (Image: Sky News Australia, Instagram/@manlyobserver) As parts of NSW and Queensland are still under floodwater . Defence and National Security Intelligence. As the rain falls, the Brisbane River hits moderate flood levels. We build our cities on rivers for a reason it was good for transport and waste disposal but that also means we built on flood plains, Khan says. Dr. Zou: Yes. The flight was collecting images for aerial maps provided to Australian mapping company NearMap, he said. Australia One Party (A1) - Update March 3, 2022. This show is available wherever you get your podcasts. Ben Domensino, a meteorologist at Weatherzone, says the low pressure trough is delivering the rainfall but an area of colder air higher in the atmosphere is drifting in, making the atmosphere unstable and allowing moisture to be lifted up and dropped as rain. Using this information is very good to compare the performance of different materials, and we did that extensively. So it is a synergistic effect. Australia at present is in short supply of both, and even if more clouds begin to make an appearance in the Australian sky, chances are they will not be the right type. We call them UAEREP [United Arab Emirates Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science]. Laurel: Then in the real world where we don't have this controlled chamber, it's not quite as easy necessarily to measure that kind of success. Iran has already accused Israel of stealing its water by using cloud-seeding that reduces rainfall over its territory. At the moment, all possible solutions that could resolve the water shortage issue should be examined carefully. On March 30, 2022, BBC News reported that thousands of people had to evacuate their homes due to a severe flood on the east coast of Australia. But there is no evidence to suggest cloud seeding has anything to do with the current rainfall in Sydney. The colors depict the wetness percentile; that is, how the levels of groundwater compare to long-term records (1948-2012). So it has a huge possibility to improve its efficiency. For more information about us and the show, please check out our website at technologyreview.com. Of these four experiments, the Snowy Mountains saw statistically significant increases in rainfall during the experiment. Get in touch. The unsubstantiated claims have been spreading at a concerning rate on social media, with thousands seemingly convinced the record rain in northern NSW and Queensland are a 'man made' phenomenon. 4m ago. She was awarded a grant by the UAE Research Program on rain enhancement science from 2016 to 2019. 7 July 2022. "We don't have a co-ordinated effort to change the weather, because it's just physically and financially unfeasible," says Dr Gilbert, who adds that even if cloud seeding played a role, it would have "an absolutely minuscule effect.". Australia, March 30, 2022 in an image taken from video. It can enhance precipitation in areas experiencing drought, among other uses. "These aerial captures are commissioned after major weather catastrophes and natural disasters, including following the recent east coast flooding," the NearMap spokesman said. An independent investigation sought by Tasmania's parliament into the causes of the 2016 flooding found that cloud seeding, a process aimed at increasing precipitation, had no impact on the severe weather. This process is known as glaciogenic cloud seeding. Cloud seeding aims to protect flood-hit Jakarta. A La Nia develops when strong winds blow the warm surface waters of the Pacific away from South America and towards Indonesia. James Bartolo, a prominent former Melbourne anti-lockdown activist and Covid denier, promoted the bizarre, false explanation on his Facebook page. "They needed a shoulder to cry on and hear their story. There are scenes of devastation in low-lying suburbs, along creeks, and in the river itself where pontoons break free and ferry terminals are littered with smashed boats and debris. Why are you interested in this type of research? Theres no evidence to suggest it played a role in the 2022 floods in southeastern Australia, either. In the U.S., studies have found a few percentage points of increase in precipitation. Artist depiction of cloud seeding drones. 'I have known for years they have been using this technology!' There was a high degree of luck in terms of where we started from [with Wivenhoe Dam], he says, adding that the climate crisis will only raise the risk of future events. Mass Floods and Australia's High-Speed Rail. The term 'rain bomb' was coined by Daily Mail Australia in 2017 to describe sudden and intense rainstorms, and has since been picked up by politicians and even the Bureau of Meteorology. This data describing my new seeding materials property and their interactions in atmosphere. 15 February 2014. The first trials were carried out near Sydney by Kraus and Squires in 1947. Yes, such type of applications. Learn more about fact-checking at AP. Four police officers knocked down the former bodybuilder's door when he refused to open it, claiming they didn't have authorisation to be on the property. Fast forward to 2022 as Las Vegas, Nevada and the UAE are dealing with severe flooding which happened after acknowledged cloud seeding operations. The higher you move up to the atmosphere, quickly moving into subzero and very cold. The conventional cloud seeding material can only be activated at a very high relative humidity in atmosphere in the cloud, such as greater than 75% relative humidity. Pictured: Large parts of Lismore in NSW are completely underwater after record rainfall, Hundreds replied to the post with messages claiming 'the government' is using experimental technology to carry out 'cloud seeding'. Trains are cancelled, bus services limited, the main Bruce Highway is closed at multiple locations and 51,000 people are without power. one follower wrote. You took this on as part of your research. Is that correct? Cloud seeding is a real thing. Since the 1940s, scientists have studied ways to increase rainfall with the goal of increasing precipitation in arid and semi-arid climates. In their place, colder waters come up to the surface. Image: How cloud seeding works in the NSW Snowy Mountains. QLD Premier's father runs genetic data storage company. Dr. Zou: As we know, the global water shortage has continuously intensified by rapid population growth and economic development around the world. Laurel: This is very critical because the cloud seeding materials go very high up into the atmosphere where it is very cold, correct? Snowy Hydro's Cloud Seeding Program boasts that it has been able to increase rain or snow by 14 percent over the colder months. UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science, New UAE cloud seeding test in Texas shows 'promising results', Roomba testers feel misled after intimate images ended up on Facebook, How Rust went from a side project to the worlds most-loved programming language. Scientists blame intense rainfall on a . "Handel Aviation operates aerial photography aircraft only. This is done by firing small particles (usually silver iodide) into clouds . Towards New Zealand, Domensino says, an area of high pressure known as a blocking high stops the system from moving away into the Tasman Sea. 1. Through the advancement in nanotechnology and nanoscience, nowadays we are working to design and engineer cloud seeding materials with optimal properties to ensure water vapor condensation will occur effectively and maximize the rainfall achieved. The key factors of a successful cloud seeding operation include, first, identifying the suitable cloud for seeding. As well as the rising river levels, the amount of rain falling locally causes flash floods all across the city and its outer suburbs as creeks swell, inundating areas that escaped the 2011 floods. On the other hand, I am also dedicated to the scale up of the production, reduce the cost, and the application of the materials. One patent is filed on the titanium dioxide, sodium chloride material for warm cloud seeding, and another patent is filed for porous graphite oxide, silica dioxide, nano compensated for cold cloud seeding. 'Could also be the start of the universal basic income scheme for the displaced victims of this tyranny?
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