The country that's forcing rain to fall with new bizarre experiment

A huge country has managed to increase rainfall by 4% in one of its driest provinces thanks to a new drone experiment. China has utilised cutting-edge technology to create rain just weeks before the country's major drone event, Drone World Congress, which takes place in Shenzhen between May 23 and 25 and will feature groundbreaking innovations from across the globe.

However, China already seems to be one step ahead. An experiment led by the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) saw precipitation in the arid region of Xinjiang, western China, increase by 4%. The test resulted in artificial rainfall that was equivalent to 30 Olympic swimming pools, which was made possible with the use of drones and 1kg of silver iodide.

The creation of artificial rain with the use of drones and silver iodide is a cloud seeding technique which is used to stimulate precipitation. Silver iodide is a substance that is six times dense than water.

Silver iodide was used due to the fact that it acts as a condensation nucleus, mimicking the crystalline structure of ice. When dispersed in cold clouds, supercooled water particles attach to it, forming ice crystals that grow and fall as rain or snow.

A specialised drone capable of flying at high altitudes and featuring a dispersion device, a burner, or a diffuser for the silver iodide is also needed. Of course, a kilogram of the compound is also needed, as the amount can tackle several clouds.

With all the necessary items, four consecutive flights at an altitude of 5,500 metres saw drones release the compound in smoke over the Bsyanbulak grasslands. The dispersion rate was 0.28 grams per second, which was achieved using flame rods containing 125 grams each. The clouds also showed cooling of up to 10C and vertical growth of 3km.

The results was an increase of more than 4% in local preciption, equivalent to around a whopping 78,200 cubic metres of water, with matches predictions from supercomputers and validations conducted with drop spectrometers, satalite images, and long-term climate analyses.

This is not the first time China has used drones in a similar way. In 2021, they used Ganlin-1 drones to seed clouds in Tibet and increase rainfall in dry areas.