<p>Indian weather-scientists are set to undertake a two-year long experiment to find out the best way to cloud-seeding- an artificial way of rain-making.</p>.<p>Scientists have set up the infrastructure like a C-band radar at Solapur in Maharashtra and hired two aircraft for seeding.</p>.<p>The aircraft are expected by May end and the experiment will start in June after the onset of the Southwest monsoon.</p>.<p>Solapur is chosen because it falls in a rain-shadow area. Also, the town is close to Pune where the lead centre, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, is located. The aircraft will operate from the Pune aircraft.</p>.<p>"We aim to find out whether cloud seeding has any prospect; whether the technology is commercially viable and what's the best way to do," M Rajeevan, Secretary, Union Ministry of Earth Sciences told DH.</p>.<p class="CrossHead">History</p>.<p>Developed way back in the 1940s, cloud-seeding involved spraying the sky with a cocktail of dry-ice and silver iodide, either from a plane or using a rocket. The chemicals help congregate the dispersed clouds- existing but spread far and wide- and trigger rain.</p>.<p class="CrossHead">In Indian States</p>.<p>Though its utility as a rain-making technology is under question for years, cloud-seeding is popular in Indian states battling droughts or severe rain-deficiency.</p>.<p>Tamil Nadu and Karnataka tried it repeatedly in the past while Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra announced they would do it.</p>.<p>Last year, Maharashtra cabinet approved a plan to seed the clouds for 113 hours, but the plan was not implemented because the normal rainfall was more than enough.</p>.<p>"The benefits of cloud-seeding are poorly understood though lots of organisations make tall claims. That's why we decided to do it," Rajeevan said.</p>.<p>The two aircraft will seed the base of the cloud, which will be tracked by the ground-based radar to find out how many of these clouds are becoming large enough to release raindrops. The experiment will continue for two years to generate the baseline data.</p>.<p class="CrossHead">Tried experiment</p>.<p>It's not that India didn't try the cloud-seeding experiments before.</p>.<p><span>In the 1960s and 1970s, IITM scientists conducted experiments in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. But since the 1980s, there is a decline in such studies even though other countries continued with cloud-seeding experiments with more advanced instruments.</span></p>.<p>The most spectacular use of the technology was demonstrated by China, which used it to trigger premature rains so that the inauguration of the 2008 Olympic remained dry.</p>
<p>Indian weather-scientists are set to undertake a two-year long experiment to find out the best way to cloud-seeding- an artificial way of rain-making.</p>.<p>Scientists have set up the infrastructure like a C-band radar at Solapur in Maharashtra and hired two aircraft for seeding.</p>.<p>The aircraft are expected by May end and the experiment will start in June after the onset of the Southwest monsoon.</p>.<p>Solapur is chosen because it falls in a rain-shadow area. Also, the town is close to Pune where the lead centre, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, is located. The aircraft will operate from the Pune aircraft.</p>.<p>"We aim to find out whether cloud seeding has any prospect; whether the technology is commercially viable and what's the best way to do," M Rajeevan, Secretary, Union Ministry of Earth Sciences told DH.</p>.<p class="CrossHead">History</p>.<p>Developed way back in the 1940s, cloud-seeding involved spraying the sky with a cocktail of dry-ice and silver iodide, either from a plane or using a rocket. The chemicals help congregate the dispersed clouds- existing but spread far and wide- and trigger rain.</p>.<p class="CrossHead">In Indian States</p>.<p>Though its utility as a rain-making technology is under question for years, cloud-seeding is popular in Indian states battling droughts or severe rain-deficiency.</p>.<p>Tamil Nadu and Karnataka tried it repeatedly in the past while Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra announced they would do it.</p>.<p>Last year, Maharashtra cabinet approved a plan to seed the clouds for 113 hours, but the plan was not implemented because the normal rainfall was more than enough.</p>.<p>"The benefits of cloud-seeding are poorly understood though lots of organisations make tall claims. That's why we decided to do it," Rajeevan said.</p>.<p>The two aircraft will seed the base of the cloud, which will be tracked by the ground-based radar to find out how many of these clouds are becoming large enough to release raindrops. The experiment will continue for two years to generate the baseline data.</p>.<p class="CrossHead">Tried experiment</p>.<p>It's not that India didn't try the cloud-seeding experiments before.</p>.<p><span>In the 1960s and 1970s, IITM scientists conducted experiments in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. But since the 1980s, there is a decline in such studies even though other countries continued with cloud-seeding experiments with more advanced instruments.</span></p>.<p>The most spectacular use of the technology was demonstrated by China, which used it to trigger premature rains so that the inauguration of the 2008 Olympic remained dry.</p>
