Hervé Poirier, editor-in-chief of the scientific magazine Epsiloon talks today about these new techniques for bringing about rain and solving the problems of drought.
franceinfo: How are China and Niger proceeding?
Herve Poirier: The Nigerien authorities are in the midst of a cloud seeding operation in the Niamey region, in the west of the country. The planes target the areas of crops or pasture most threatened by the very severe drought that has set in for two months. The operation launched at the beginning of August should continue until the end of September, when the short rainy season normally ends, this very chaotic year – floods affect the desert, in the north of the country.
On the side of China, the national meteorological administration launched drones a few days ago in the sky of Sichuan, in order to make the clouds rain above this very agricultural region hit, too, by a heat and a historical drought – the waterways are dried up, as well as the reservoirs of the dams, which provide 80% of the energy.
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And is it effective?
More and more. Since the pioneering work carried out in the 1940s, around fifty States have been carrying out experiments to promote the formation, in the heart of clouds, of large drops of water likely to fall to the ground. The microphysics of the atmosphere is better and better mastered. The effectiveness of different particles such as silver iodide or titanium dioxide are validated. While radars and satellites assisted by artificial intelligence are put in place to detect the most favorable clouds.
This weather engineering raises many questions (lack of international rules, risk of pollution, etc.). But, in recent years, it has been changing scale. A circular issued by the Chinese State Council in December 2020 announced the mobilization of 50,000 technicians to take control of weather conditions in 60% of the territory by 2025.
And this summer, marked almost everywhere in the world by very violent meteorological disturbances, the technology really came out of the labs. This summer, weather engineering took action.