PUNE : Weather scientists of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) have drawn a conclusion that the artificial rain experiments carried out in Solapur district, have proved successful. The reports of the experiments were published by the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences in New Delhi. The Solapur experiments proved that when salt is sprayed on special clouds from the airplanes, it leads to increased rainfall.
Through an initiative of IITM, the CAIPEEX project was started in 2009. In the fourth phase of the project, in 2018 and 2019, for the first time, an artificial rain experiment was carried out in Solapur district. Two planes had been brought from the US. Through an aeroplane, salts were sprayed on the clouds and the notings were made from the second plane. Through 130 rain gauges installed in Solapur district, notings were made about how much rain falls in which areas after the spraying of salt in the clouds.
An official connected with the CAIPEEX project said, “The artificial rain experiments were conducted as per the guidelines of WMO in a scientific manner. Radar, numerical model and random sampling was used. During the monsoon, when it was not raining, salts were sprayed on some clouds and were not sprayed on some clouds. Notings were made about the precipitation regarding rainfall from both type of clouds.”
“During the monsoon period, if salts are sprayed on clouds having a certain percentage of water and those moving upwards, it leads to an increase in the rainfall and this was proved by our experiments. After salts were sprayed on the clouds, as per the readings of the 43 raingauges installed in Solapur districts, the percentage of rain increased by 46 per cent and according to C Band radar notings, there was an increase of 18 per cent in the rainfall over a 100 km area. As per our estimates, after every session of spraying of salts from the aeroplanes, approximately 86.7 crore litre water fell on the ground. If we have accurate information about the clouds and if we use a suitable system, then the experiment of artificial rain becomes successful and it is beneficial which was proved through our project,” he said.
Dr R Krishnan, Director of IITM, said, “A large part of out country is in the rain shadow area and the CAIPEEX project proved that during a drought year, the option of artificial rain is useful to save the crops. Since 2009, through painstaking efforts of many scientists of IITM, many facets about Indian clouds came to light and we understood the scientific method of increasing the quantity of artificial rain.”
Solapur artificial rain experiment
1) By using C Band radar, in two years, during the monsoon period, 267 clouds having a certain percentage of water were identified
2) 103 flights of two planes were carried out for the study of clouds
3) In 145 clouds, calcium chloride was sprayed from a plane and there was no spraying on 122 clouds. The second plane was used to study the reactions of the clouds
4) After identifying the rain area, notings were made from 130 raingauges installed in the area and by using radar, rainfall data was collected in a 100 km area from Solapur
5) During the fourth stage of CAIPEEX, 25 senior scientists and researchers were involved. The findings of the research will be published in an international journal
