New Delhi: The Delhi government On Tuesday, tried to fight the city’s rising air pollution by conducting two cloud seeding trials over the capital. However, both attempts failed to bring rain, officials said.
The tests used a Cessna plane with salt-based and silver iodide flares attached to it. These flares were meant to make it rain by speeding up the process of cloud condensation. Experts indicated that even if the clouds were in a good position, the operation didn’t work because the air was too dry.
Flights to seed clouds from Kanpur and Meerut
Officials said that the two sorties left Kanpur and Meerut earlier in the day and flew over parts of Delhi that are farther away, such as Khekra, Burari, North Karol Bagh, and Mayur Vihar.
Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa called the endeavor a “historic trial” and said:
“Today, there were two cloud seeding tests in Delhi. This was the third one total. The first one left Kanpur this morning, and the second one left Meerut. Today’s trial took place in parts of outer Delhi… This has been a historic trial thus far.
Eight flares, each weighing between 2 and 2.5 kilos, were dropped from the plane during the mission to spread particles into the clouds and start rain.
IIT Kanpur Says It Was Partially Successful
Manindra Agrawal, the Director of IIT Kanpur, which is in charge of the technical part of the project, claimed that the tests proceeded as planned, although they did not show any measurable rainfall.
“We did two sorties, one in the afternoon and one a little later in the evening.” A total of 14 flares were shot… They shot these off, and the plane went back to Meerut. So far, it hasn’t rained. “So, in that sense, it is not completely successful,” Agrawal told NDTV.
He also said that the trial gave him useful experience and confidence to keep trying in the future.
Why the Trials Didn’t Work
A report from the Delhi government later said that the main reason for the collapse was low moisture content. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the humidity in the air would be between 10% and 15%, which is much lower than the conditions needed for cloud seeding to work.
Agrawal agreed with this analysis, saying that cloud seeding works best when the clouds are already humid and wet.
“The clouds that are there now don’t have a lot of moisture in them. They told me it was only 15 to 20%. He remarked, “So, the chance of making rain with such low moisture content is not very high.”
Next Steps: More Tests to Come
The team is still hopeful, even if they had a setback. The director of IIT Kanpur said that another set of tests is planned for Wednesday, but only if the weather is good.
“We hope that this trial has given our team more faith that we can keep doing these trials.” Agrawal responded, “We will try again tomorrow.”
Officials claimed that the trial is an important component of Delhi’s larger effort to fight pollution, which aims to temporarily clear the air by making it rain to wash away particles.
The capital is dealing with dangerous air quality levels, so officials are expected to keep a careful eye on the weather before moving on to the next phase of testing.