Phase III of cloud seeding project to begin in July

The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology,this year,will start the third phase of the cloud seeding programme in July.

The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM),this year,will start the third phase of the cloud seeding programme in July. Last year,the process had started in August after delays cropped up in the tendering process. IITM officials said arrangements are being made to complete the process in time this year.

Tenders will soon be floated for hiring aircraft and a radar. Arrangements are being made in advance so that we can kickstart the project in July, said scientist Dr JR Kulkarni,who is programme manager of Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment (CAIPEX).

With the Met department predicting a good monsoon this year,the project of cloud seeding for the rain shadow regions in Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka will be taken up in July. As part of a scientific study on enhancement of rainfall in the country,the Ministry of Earth Sciences has allocated Rs 50 crore for the programme which is part of Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment. Last year,the IITM had started its observations from August and in 2009 it was done from May-October. The data has been uploaded on the IITM website. This year,the institute will undertake an actual cloud seeding assessment in these rainshadow regions.

The experiment to create artificial rain through cloud seeding began in 2008. The three-phase process will go on till 2012. The programme is spearheaded by Dr Kulkarni and deputy programme manager Mahesh Kumar.

The base is in Solapur and parts of Pune and Marathwada will be covered under the rain shadow regions for the process. In the first phase,IITM had studied cloud parameters such as temperature,wind and water droplets . The second phase was to check both warm cloud seeding through salt and hygroscopic flares and cold seeding using silver iodide.

The seeding was done from above and below the clouds after which the cloud precipitation was measured. The third phase of the programme will measure and analyse the seeding impact.

Scientists will also carry out experiments in the monsoon and post-monsoon seasons with the help of IIT-Kanpur,National Aerospace Laboratory-Bangalore,the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy.

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