Delhi Air Scare: What Is Artificial Raining And How It Works?

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government is gearing up to tackle the city’s persistently high air pollution levels with a creative approach—artificial rain through cloud seeding.

Environment Minister Gopal Rai initiated discussions with a team from IIT Kanpur on November 8 to explore the feasibility of implementing artificial rainfall in the capital.

As a result of this meeting, Mr. Rai mentioned the possibility of experiencing artificial rainfall on November 20-21, provided the skies are cloudy. This innovative strategy aims to address the pressing concerns surrounding Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI).

What is Artificial Rain?

Artificial rain, also known as cloud seeding, is a weather modification technique that involves introducing specific substances into clouds to stimulate precipitation. In the context of cloud seeding for rain, commonly used substances like silver iodide or potassium iodide are dispersed into the clouds using aircraft or helicopters.

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How Artificial Rain works?

These introduced particles serve as nuclei around which water droplets can condense, eventually leading to the formation of raindrops.

The process typically takes around half an hour but relies on specific meteorological conditions, including the presence of moisture-laden clouds and suitable wind patterns.

Primary objective of Artificial Rain

The primary objective of this technique is to enhance rainfall in particular areas or alleviate drought conditions. It’s a fascinating method used to influence weather patterns for agricultural, environmental, or water resource management purposes.

Delhi’ worsening air quality-:

Currently, Delhi is grappling with an extremely “hazardous” AQI of 670, as reported by the Delhi Air Pollution Board. Pollutants such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and others are well above safe limits.

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