Tehran, Iran, May 29
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:
The National Cloud Seeding Research Center plans to use three aircraft in the coming fall for a major cloud seeding project across Iran.
A major cloud seeding project will be implemented by one IRGC (Islamic Revolution Guards Corps) plane and two Russian Antonov passenger planes next autumn, Farid Golkar, the head of the research center, said on May 29, IRNA news agency reported.
The Iranian government leased the two Russian aircraft last year, but failed to use them for cloud seeding, as the administration could not afford them, he added.
Golkar further said the IRGC came to help by putting a plane at the center’s disposal.
He said, however, that the recent precipitations in the country were not an immediate result of cloud seeding despite rumors that they were not normal rainfall.
Cloud seeding, a form of weather modification, is a way of attempting to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter the microphysical processes within the cloud.
However, its effectiveness is not yet certain, as success rates of cloud seeding schemes in other countries vary.
Iran, a largely semi-arid region, suffers from drought. Although different strategies have been employed to tackle the country’s declining rainfall and consequent drought, little has been gained, compelling authorities to resort to the “last solution”.
According to Iranian officials, cloud seeding projects have been practiced in Iran since 2008, targeting 10 provinces, namely Yazd, Isfahan, Fars, West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Sistan-Balouchestan, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Khuzestan, South Khorasan and Kermanshah.
