Cloud Seeding - Right or Wrong
An article in the Australian today, “Cloud Seeding - a Possum threat”, has made mention of the NSW government plans to double the scale of cloud seeding in Kosciuszko National Park.
“Colong Foundation for Wilderness director Keith Muir warned that NSW government plans to double the scale of cloud seeding in Kosciuszko National Park could produce more rain than snow at the Mount Selwyn ski resort.
“Snow-dependant animals like the mountain pygmy possum could freeze to death when rain produced by cloud seeding washes away the insulating winter blanket of snow in marginal areas,” he said.
University of Melbourne expert Paul Metrovsky has studied mountain pygmy possums and agreed increased rainfall could further endanger the species. “If cloud seeding increases the rain, the possums will lose too much energy as they’ll wake up several times from their hibernation,” Mr Metrovsky said.
The possums need the insulation of snow while hibernating between April and October, he added.”
“Mr Muir said NSW plans to double the $20million cloud seeding experiment had been formulated regardless of the impact of climate change. “Cloud seeding is effective only in a limited number of weather conditions,” he said.
“It is a self-evident fact that temperatures will continue to rise, the snow line must also rise and rain will replace snow in marginal areas.”
Snowy Hydro Corporation claims it has conducted successful cloud seeding operations in the Snowy Mountains for the past four winters.
“Results have been promising, with preliminary data supporting the experts’ predictions of an average 10per cent increase in snow falls over a 10-year period,” the corporation said in a statement this month.”
Cloud seeding, a form of weather modification, is the attempt to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation.
In mid-latitude clouds, seeding strategy has been predicated upon the fact that the equilibrium vapor pressure is lower over ice than over water. When ice particles form in supercooled clouds, this fact allows the ice particles to grow at the expense of liquid droplets. If there is sufficient growth, the particles become heavy enough to fall as snow from clouds that otherwise would produce no precipitation. This process is known as “static” seeding.
It has also been told that China will be seeding the clouds for the Beijing Olympics so that there will be no rain during the medal ceremonies.
Personally, I love the Pygmy Possum and do not want to see their population decline any further. Cloud Seeding concerns me on many levels and I think should be better established scientifically before money is heavily invested. With a predicted bumper season ahead of us, do we really need that extra 10% right now?
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