Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) on Sunday questioned why scientists haven’t manipulated the climate to extinguish the wildfires over Southern California, insisting to her social media followers: “They know how one can do it.”
The Georgia congresswoman, whose instructional background is in enterprise administration, particularly cited a process known as cloud seeding, which might stimulate preexisting clouds into producing rain, although at a small scale. She’s previously suggested, with none supporting proof, that highly effective hurricanes are generated this fashion within the South to intentionally harm Republican-majority areas.
One of many points with cloud seeding as an answer in Southern California is that the area has been experiencing a severe drought for weeks, leaving the air with low humidity and a scarcity of precipitation-producing clouds. Underneath such circumstances, there’s restricted to no alternative for such a technique to work, as atmospheric analysis scientist Frank McDonough with the Nevada-based Desert Analysis Institute, which has its personal cloud seeding program, defined to HuffPost.
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“The air flowing throughout SOCAL presently is bone dry coming from east to west off the Mojave Desert. There aren’t any clouds current to seed,” he stated in an electronic mail Monday.
Even when there have been some cloud availability, it’s additionally solely capable of goal small areas, round 23-30 miles, he stated. The wildfires in Los Angeles cover 38,629 acres as of Monday afternoon, or roughly 60 sq. miles.
“On an extended time-frame (over a whole winter season), cloud seeding might assist enhance water sources and this might doubtlessly assist fill reservoirs and make elevated firefighting water out there for floor and air,” he added.
Related assessments have been made for years by different consultants within the area.
“When cloud seeding is used to immediate precipitation, or rain, the approach depends on already present water molecules within the environment to condense onto the particles, or ‘seeds,’” Heather Holmes explained in 2017, then an assistant professor in physics and atmospheric sciences on the College of Nevada. “As a result of moisture is the primary ingredient for cloud seeding to supply rain, cloud seeding can’t be used as an answer to create rain throughout drought circumstances.”
The North American Climate Modification Council equally advocates in opposition to cloud seeding throughout drought, stating online that “cloud seeding alternatives throughout these intervals could be very restricted and the outcomes seemingly marginal.”
In previous situations the place it was used to supply rain or snow ― in locations like China, Pakistan, Idaho and Colorado ― scientists would monitor incoming clouds by satellite tv for pc, analyze their content material and, if the circumstances had been very best, shoot or launch silver iodide into the passing water vapor. This chemical causes water droplets within the clouds to freeze collectively and fall as rain.
The method isn’t easy or all the time profitable, and outcomes aren’t instantly substantial, as one meteorologist with the personal firm Climate Modification Worldwide told NBC News in 2022.
“It’s one of many issues that makes it so laborious to judge, is you don’t see a doubling or tripling of the precipitation,” Bruce Boe, the corporate’s vp of meteorology, informed the community whereas discussing the method’ use to create synthetic snow.
“You see an incremental enhance, however you add that up over the course of a winter after which it may be vital,” he stated.
The Nationwide Middle for Atmospheric Analysis, which has examined cloud seeding to generate snowfall for water administration functions, has additionally pointed to wind circumstances needing to be excellent (Los Angeles is presently experiencing 45-70 mph wind gusts that authorities blame for serving to fan the flames). The analysis middle has additionally questioned how cost-effective cloud seeding is.
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“The seeding produces ice and that ice can kind snow, however is it sufficient further snow to make it price efficient?”Nationwide Middle for Atmospheric Analysis scientist Sarah Tessendorf said in 2020 after the analysis institute’s testing in Idaho. “For water managers, the underside line is the quantity of snowpack that you just’re constructing over the entire winter and the way a lot runoff it would generate.”
