China Modifies Weather For 2008 Olympics

BRock97 writes: "An article in the August 5th issue of Newsweek describes the steps the Chinese are taking to ensure a perfect forecast for the 2008 Olympics. This includes shutting down factories that are pumping pollution into the atmosphere to increasing the number of trees planted to reduce dust and erosion (need to spread these kind of ideas world wide!). The interesting aspect, though, is all the research and development into using rockets and furnaces to modify the atmosphere and create the weather that would be optimal for the games. By heating the air or dumping cloud condensation nuclei into the atmosphere, various types of weather can be achieved. Seems that they have had success as far back as 1987, creating rain to help put out a raging forest fire. Cool stuff from a weather nerd standpoint."

Comments

pollution's effects on weather

[dolsen]

NASA and NOAA do (or fund) quite a bit of research into the type of phenomena where aerosols (tiny particles) in pollution (think soot) cause rainfall or the lack of rainfall. Check out some of the research (and nifty images of Earth) regarding this topic:

• Changing Our Weather One Smokestack at a Time
• Thunderstorms are affected by Pollution (May 2002)
• Tiny Particles of Pollution May Carry Large Consequences for Earth's Water Supply (December 2001)

Dust can also have an effect on rainfall. For a more general view of aerosols and there effects on climate change check out an aerosol fact sheet.

I realize these links have a bias for NASA but NOAA is also actively researching this area.

yet not the first time

[DopeThrone]

"Seems that they have had success as far back as 1987, creating rain to help put out a raging forest fire."
Yes and as far back as the early 1970's an international law was passed that warring contries could not control each other's weather for the purpose of winning the war.

Re:LOL, whatever -- this bullshit

[foobar104]

Gee whiz. Fly off the handle much?

If you read the article you'd know that they're talking about induced rain. That's all. You know there's going to be a soccer match in three days (or whatever), so you put silver iodide in the clouds to make it rain. Get much of the moisture out of the local atmosphere, reduce the likelihood of rain next week. It's a very localized and very well understood process. The hitch, of course, is getting the right amount of stuff into the atmosphere at the right time and in the right way. It's all in the delivery.

Besides, the article is worth it for the headline alone: "Rain called on account of game." LOL.

They did this 3 years ago

[pjcreath]

For the communist party's 50th anniversary in 1999, China did the same thing.

Since the Party had decreed that there would be perfect weather for such a momentous occasion, they shut down factories around Beijing for the entire week beforehand. Then a day or two before, they seeded the clouds, so that it would rain the day before the celebration, but be Perfect Weather in Tiananmen Square for the Day.

And indeed, the weather was perfect. The smog had disappeared, and the sky was clear and blue...