Climate Control

This is the largest artificial rain system ever designed. And China has succeeded in predicting drought. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has set up a special combustion chamber to upgrade the Tibetan plateau under Chinese sovereignty.

This has not been done on such a large surface before. Equivalent to Alaska (USA) with an area of ​​more than 1 million square kilometers. The Himalayas are located on the Yangtze, Mekong and Yellow Rivers where three main rivers meet. Water comes from the melting of snow in the mountains and the ice deposits on the slopes. And they want to do it by putting water into the clouds.

The Celestial River

The project, called Tianhe, consists of dozens of meteorological stations that broadcast silver particles of iodide (or potassium iodide) in the atmosphere with the help of wind. The contact between these particles and the air creates a thick crystal structure like water similar to ice that helps create clouds with high moisture content.

According to researchers who are part of the project, annual rainfall of 10 billion cubic meters can be increased, which accounts for 7% of the total national water consumption of citizens.

Strategic Place

The place you choose to run this project is a very important location because it can provide water for almost half the world's population. The Tibetan Plateau is known as the Asian water tower. Glaciers supply water to major rivers in Asia and irrigate land in countries such as China, India, Nepal, Laos and Myanmar.

China has used this technology in other cases to create a favorable climate in drought, fires and even important events (eg Beijing 2008 Olympics). But never on a large scale. Now China has found a much cheaper and more innovative method. It is mounted on steep mountains of Tibet with combustion chambers specially designed by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

At this point in the Tibetan Plateau, the South Asian monsoon, the iodide penetrating space creates a current that causes the particles to rise. The biggest challenge for this project is to ensure that iodide combustion works in high areas with a limited amount of oxygen.

The problem with artificial rain is you can not control the amount of water that falls just right. This specially designed tool works just fine when blowing iodide silver into the wind. "I am skeptical about the amount of rain that can be done," said Ma Weiqiang, a researcher at the project, "the weather system is very complex and can make this effort a waste.

Environmental groups have also expressed concern about the massive use of silver iodide. This is because it can cause deposition that can disturb the atmosphere and contaminate the surrounding soil.