As the rain falls, the Brisbane River hits moderate flood levels. So, what is cloud seeding, how does it work and where is it used in Australia? The photograph shows two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) DC-3 planes flying above some cumulus clouds. Climatology and Geophysics Agency BMKG said the great flood that hit Jakarta in early 2020 was "one of the most extreme rain events" since . If you think a claim has been misjudged or requires correction, please send us evidence to support your error claim. Try refreshing this page and updating them one Feast to Famine: Mass Floods and Australia's High-Speed Rail. In Australia, a La Nia increases the likelihood of rain, cyclones, and cooler daytime temperatures. Recent research suggests that the decades-old approach can be effective, though questions remain about how much water it can wring from the sky. Cloud seeding is an artificial weather modification technique that involves introducing cloud condensation nuclei into the atmosphere, which enhances a clouds ability to produce rain and snow. Theres no evidence to suggest it played a role in the 2022 floods in southeastern Australia, either. Prof Bofu Yu, of Griffith Universitys Australian Rivers Institute, says in 2011 rainfall was concentrated in the west and not as widespread as the current flooding. CBS News reported on April 8 that many Australian pilots and aviation companies received threats regarding false claims on social media about cloud seeding. That hasn't stopped some TikTok users from denouncing "weather engineering". My guest today is Dr. Linda Zou, who is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Khalifa University of Science and Technology. Steven Siems, from Monash University's School of Earth Atmosphere and Environment, is a cloud expert. Some areas that flow into the river have had 300mm of rain in just six hours. . Most research has found that AgI, when dispersed in cloud seeding, has no adverse health effects on the environment. Cloud seeding trials continued through the late 1950s and early 1960s by the CSIRO in the Snowy Mountains, in the New England district of NSW, the Warragamba catchment near Sydney and in the York Peninsula in SA. Image: How cloud seeding works in the NSW Snowy Mountains. "Those numbers tell us that this is an inexpensive way to help add water to the system. The amount of snow or rain tied to cloud seeding has varied, with up to 14% reported in experiments in Australia. Pictured: Homes inundated by floodwater in Lismore, NSW, James Bartolo (pictured) is a former bodybuilder who promotes a range of bizarre conspiracies. In Australia, cloud seeding is used in some areas to increase surface water runoff for use in the production of hydropower. And why has Queenslands capital flooded again just 11 years after the devastation of 2011? Cloud seeding aims to protect flood-hit Jakarta. This nanoengineered shell core structured material can be activated at much broader relative humidity conditions such as about 65%. Conversely, she said cloud seeding would not dramatically worsen clouds that are already forecast to produce severe weather. Nobody has ever seen this amount of rain in such a short period of time over our south-east catchment, says the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk. Laurel: You've also developed another kind of technology, ice nucleating particles. About as much as eight months' worth of rain has come down in just four days, bringing parts of Australia's largest city to a standstill. Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) February 26, 2022 About 18,000 homes in Brisbane and surrounding areas have been flooded and more than 50,000 are without power. . We know the oceans are getting warmer and that puts more moisture in the atmosphere, and a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture.. To help advance the science, in 2015 the UAE government launched a new initiative, the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science. We also assess the Snowy Schemes reservoir storage levels to ensure additional snowmelt from cloud seeding will not contribute to flooding downstream, Snowy Hydro said. Covid origin likely China lab incident - FBI chief. What could be the reason behind mass flooding down the east coast of Australia? one wrote. Trains are cancelled, bus services limited, the main Bruce Highway is closed at multiple locations and 51,000 people are without power. Hydro Tasmania also denied that its flights were to blame and said in a statement that an analysis shows the operation had no measurable impact on rainfall on that day.. I used an eight cubic meter chamber with controlled humidity and temperature. There has been torrential rain for two days and there is much more to come. Covered in this AustraliaOne Update -. Researchers have been trying to . The unsubstantiated claims have been spreading at a concerning rate on social media, with thousands seemingly convinced the record rain in northern NSW and Queensland are a 'man made' phenomenon. Some social media users are spreading false theories about what has caused multiple floods in Australia in recent years. 7.4 Cloud seeding from a plane uses silver iodide burners, dry ice pellets or hygroscopic flares. Dr. Zou leads a groundbreaking research project using nanotechnology to develop cloud-seeding materials. The image below shows how silver iodide can be used to create snow on the leeside of a mountain range. This is part of APs effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Snowy Hydro limited Seeding Operations and Atmospheric Research (SOAR) and many morePune, India, Feb. 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global cloud seeding market size is set to gain traction from the increasing adoption of weather modification technologies by various countries, shares . Using this information is very good to compare the performance of different materials, and we did that extensively. Snowy Hydro's Cloud Seeding Program boasts that it has been able to increase rain or snow by 14 percent over the colder months. AN AUSTRALIAN AVIATION company says it has received more than 100 threats following an online conspiracy theory that its pilots unleashed a flooding disaster by cloud seeding. Some conspiracy theorists have been sharing a 2016 news report from the Australian TV network 7News - which has now been watched thousands of times. A really strong storm, she explained, will already have a very strong updraft and windflow characteristics that help create the cloud to begin with. Question is why?' 27 Jul 2022, 11:08 AM UTC Cloud seeding in Australia. Since silver iodide and not elemental silver is the cloud seeding material, the claims of negative environmental impact are disputed by peer-reviewed research as summarized . Dr. Zou: Yes. In the open environment, it's more challenging. Today, that endeavor is making incredible leaps and bounds as scientists and engineers apply nanotechnology to improve the effectiveness of cloud seeding. On social media, they blame the extreme rainfall on "cloud seeding" and "weather manipulation". Our topic today is cloud seeding to increase rainfall. THE FACTS: There's no evidence to suggest that cloud seeding played a role in either flood, and an atmospheric research expert told the AP that cloud seeding would . Multiple posts on Facebook - as seen here, here and here - attempt to link Australia's floods with cloud seeding and possible government manipulation of the weather. They vary in size. What are conventional cloud seeding materials, and then how does nanotechnology come into play? What are the challenges with then deploying the material out in the real world? There is no evidence to prove cloud seeding affected the flood. As you know, cold clouds with sub-zero temperatures are also present in the atmosphere. Leverage advanced weather intelligence and decisioning tools for your enterprise business. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Conspiracy theorists claim the motive for'elites' carrying out a 'weather attack', which submerged communities around Byron Bay and Lismore, was to move people into 'smart cities'. 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