Cloud Seeding -Impacts Upon The Climate

     Cloud seeding has become an controversial subject as it becomes a popular method of controlling the precipitation that falls. Used in warfare in Vietnam it was kept a secret weapon. In China they reported to use man-made cloud seeding during the 2008 summer Olympics so that no rain delays would occur and delay events. In Kansas and Texas cloud seeding has become a regular habit for forcing precipitation over croplands. Is cloud seeding morally right? Should humans be in control of the weather? And what are some of the effects it  has on the climate as man defines the boundaries of technology and the natural world on the same plane.

     Cloud seeding started in November 1946 when Vincent J. Schaefer, a self taught chemist and meteorologist working for General Electric produced the first 'static method' cloud seeding effect in a lab and went on to test it for the first time over Greylock in western Massachusetts. He used dry ice pellets at an altitude of 14,000 ft to obtain the first results of precipitation. There are three types of cloud seeding: the static method using dry ice, silver iodide, or dust particles; the dynamic method using 100 times more ice crystals and set up into 11 distinct phases that must occur correctly to work dependably; and the hygroscopic method which disperses salts through the use of flares and explosives into the lower parts of clouds.

     From 1967 to 1972 the United States government carried out operation 'Popeye' using cloud seeding to extend the monsoon season over North Vietnam, primarily over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The idea was to 'make mud, not war'. It was halted after being discovered and suspected in the severe monsoons and typhoons N.Vietnam experienced in 1971. 'Rainmaking as a weapon of war can only lead to the development of vastly more dangerous environmental techniques whose consequences may be unknown and may cause irreparable damage to our global environment. This is why the United States must move quickly to ban all environmental or geophysical modification techniques from the arsenals of war.' Quoted from Senator Claiborne Pell, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans and International Environment.

     China, European nations, the United States, Canada, and Mexico have been using Cloud seeding regularly to help bring precipitation to areas of drought, hold off hail from croplands, and even bring more snow in to areas such as ski resorts for recreation. Many people are asking if we've pushed the boundaries of nature in trying to shape it to the way we want it to behave. Others ask if perhaps using weather modification methods such as cloud seeding has a hand in recent calamities such as tsunamis in Japan and Thailand, Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, wildfires in Colorado, and droughts and heatwaves in many parts of the world. Perhaps we have gone too far in shaping our world to the way we want it to work, but personally I see no end to the way humans shape and use weather modifications, only new possible beginnings of larger scale projects.
     Human nature is progress whether or not it is always in our best interest. I see cloud seeding as beginning as many others do. Already new modifications are being looked upon, the use of heavily pulsing lasers in humid conditions creates new clouds and condensation to form. Concerns of the condensation being used in an area it may not normally fall creating droughts, wildfires, and monsoons has many valid points and should be indelibly looked into before new modifications create any unwanted problems. I see potential in the way we view the natural world and science being combined if used in way to help humankind but weather modification should also be used sparingly in extreme cases of need not for showmanship (Olympics), war tactics,( Vietnam), or for recreational sports such as at ski resorts.

Sources Cited:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cloud-seeding-china-snow
http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/meteorologists/cloud-seeding1.htm
http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474980729548
http://www.sunshine-project.org/enmod/US_Congr.html