Sharing my latest report which adds context around the China-India tensions:
Dam warfare: What China and India's rival mega-hydro projects mean for South Asia - Lights On (substack.com) <https://lightson.substack.com/p/dam-warfare-what-china-and-indias> to subscribe: Lights On (substack.com) <https://lightson.substack.com/welcome> On Sat, 5 Dec 2020 at 09:37, Andrew Lockley <[email protected]> wrote: > Poster's note: NB sub continental scale > > > https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/03/china-vows-to-boost-weather-modification-capabilities > > China plans rapid expansion of ‘weather modification’ efforts > Ambition to cover area more than one and a half times size of India likely > to concern country’s neighbours > > Jonathan Watts Global environment editor > @jonathanwatts > Thu 3 Dec 2020 18.47 GMT > Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via Email > China is planning a rapid expansion of its weather modification programme > to cover an area more than one and a half times the size of India, in a > move likely to raise concerns among the country’s neighbours. > > The decision, announced by the cabinet on Wednesday night, would increase > fivefold the world’s biggest cloud-seeding operation, which already employs > an estimated 35,000 people. > > > For six decades, the communist nation has deployed military aircraft and > anti-aircraft guns to lace clouds with silver iodide or liquid nitrogen to > thicken water droplets to the point where they fall as snow or rain. The > technology has mostly been used at a local level to alleviate droughts or > clear skies ahead of major events, such as the 2008 Olympics or last > October’s 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. > > But the proposed enlargement is on a scale that could affect regional > weather patterns. The cabinet said it wanted to extend the artificial rain > and snow programme to cover at least 2.1m sq miles (5.5m sq km) of land by > 2025. The long-term plan envisages that by 2035, the country’s weather > modification capabilities would reach an “advanced” level and focus on > revitalising rural regions, restoring ecosystems and minimising losses from > natural disasters. > > It follows a rapid buildup of capacity in recent years. A 2017 plan > earmarked $168m (1.15bn yuan) for four new planes, eight upgraded craft, > 897 rocket launchers and 1,856 digital control devices to cover 370,000 > miles (960,000 sq km), about 10% of China’s territory. > > > Part of that is a new weather modification system in the Qinghai-Tibet > plateau, Asia’s biggest freshwater reserve. Chinese scientists are working > on the ambitious Tianhe (“sky river”) plan to divert water vapour > northwards from the Yangtze River basin to the Yellow River basin, where it > would become rainfall. > > They say they have found potential channels near the boundary of the > troposphere that could carry 5bn cubic metres of water annually. The China > Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has reportedly constructed > hundreds of chambers in the mountain region – known as Asia’s water tower – > to feed silver iodide into the atmosphere in large volumes. > > This attempt to hydro-engineer the sky could ease shortages in the dry > north of China but may exacerbate problems in south-east Asia and India if > it affected the flow of the Mekong, Salween or Brahmaputra rivers – all of > which have their sources on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. > > > Even before the latest announcement, Indian websites have speculated that > China is weaponising the weather and may already be disrupting rainfall > patterns. There is little credible evidence, but China would not be alone > in trying to alter the weather for strategic purposes. > > The US journalist Seymour Hersh revealed in 1972 that the US attempted to > manipulate seasonal rains during the Vietnam war. Operation Popeye, as it > was known, aimed to flood the communist supply route along the Ho Chi Minh > trail. The US company General Electric conducted the first cloud-seeding > experiments in 1946. The technology was later adopted and upgraded by the > Soviet Union and then applied with fervour by China during the Great Leap > Forward, when Mao Zedong said “manmade rain is very important. I hope the > meteorological experts do their utmost to make it work.” > > > But its use has been peaceful and domestic. In the north, it is > coordinated by the Beijing weather modification office, which claims it has > increased precipitation in the capital by more than 10%. In 2009 it was > credited for a snowfall that helped to relieve a protracted drought. Ahead > of the Olympics in 2008, more than 1,000 silver iodide shells were fired > into the sky over eight hours to keep rain from disrupting the opening > ceremony. The technology was also reportedly deployed to clear smog in time > for the 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting. Locals still > jokingly refer to the colour of clear skies as “Apec blue”. > > But there are concerns about the lengths to which the Communist government > is willing to go to in tampering with the elements. In the 1970s, Chinese > generals proposed using nuclear weapons to blast a channel through the > Himalayas so that warm humid air from the Indian subcontinent could be > diverted to green the deserts of central and northern China. The country is > also in the midst of the world’s biggest water diversion scheme, which aims > to achieve a similar goal. However, many scientists, even within China, are > doubtful about the effectiveness of cloud seeding, particularly on a large > scale. > > In China, weather modification is institutionalised and widely deployed, > and current narratives around the legitimacy to intervene in the local > climate may provide a rationale for interventions such as solar radiation > management. > > > Recent science papers say the artificial rain programme takes these ideas > to a new technological and political level. Shiuh-Shen Chien and colleagues > from National Taiwan University said China’s cloud water governance > presents a new human-weather ideology of “taming the weather”. Bettina > Bluemling from the University of Queensland and others argue that this > scale of intervention could set a precedent for Beijing to take the first > steps in climatic geoengineering. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geoengineering/CAJ3C-05h%2BPQmBU4z21S7YEc4yFzE8H2%3DHojrg6y-MpGFK4LkSQ%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geoengineering/CAJ3C-05h%2BPQmBU4z21S7YEc4yFzE8H2%3DHojrg6y-MpGFK4LkSQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- *Lou Del Bello* *Climate and environment correspondent* *Delhi, India* *Subscribe to my newsletter Lights On <https://lightson.substack.com/welcome>* *Mobile India *+91 9319387512 *Mobile UK (WhatsApp)* +44 7900632250 *Twitter* @loudelbello -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geoengineering/CAEo1nkh6Axna04KJ7CVtNuguAzzwDQEANTMtOW_Tjz4Nd4Radw%40mail.gmail.com.
