At Gympie, 200km north of Brisbane, a flood warning is issued for the Mary River. After extensive testing, the CSIRO has determined that cloud seeding is unlikely to be effective in much of Australia. Learn more about fact-checking at AP. "We don't have a co-ordinated effort to change the weather, because it's just physically and financially unfeasible," says Dr Gilbert, who adds that even if cloud seeding played a role, it would have "an absolutely minuscule effect.". Dr. Zou: Yes, you are right. For the third time this year, Sydney has been hit by major floods. 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. A Facebook post with over 23K views asserts this claim with footage from a news broadcast about cloud seeding before a severe flood in Southern Tasmania. Leverage advanced weather intelligence and decisioning tools for your enterprise business. Nearmap, which analyzes and distributes the companys photos, confirmed in a statement to the AP that the claims associating Handels recent flight with cloud seeding are false. She added at $28-$34 per acre foot, cloud seeding is relatively cheap. Cloud seeding was first trialled in Australia in 1947 when the CSIRO got up in a light plane and released crushed dry ice into promising-looking clouds. Snowy Hydro also has other criteria for cloud seeding which includes; In addition to these atmospheric conditions, Snowy Hydro also takes into account the amount of water already in the landscape. For one of the planes, only the nose and part of the propeller are visible, and the photograph appears to have been . . There is no evidence to prove cloud seeding affected the flood. Australia at present is in short supply of both, and even if more clouds begin to make an appearance in the Australian sky, chances are they will not be the right type. Cloud seeding experiments began in Australia during 1947 after American scientists made the discovery in 1946. Posts shared online alleged aerial survey pilots from Handel Aviation caused a second deluge in the flood-ravaged New South Wales town of Lismore on March 31 by cloud seeding dispersing a substance into the clouds to prompt rain. The technique has been around for decades. On the other hand, I am also dedicated to the scale up of the production, reduce the cost, and the application of the materials. Fast forward to 2022 as Las Vegas, Nevada and the UAE are dealing with severe flooding which happened after acknowledged cloud seeding operations. Share. Covid origin likely China lab incident - FBI chief. How do those compare to cloud seeding materials? Unlock more weather data and layers options. The United Arab Emirates is creating its own rain using drones that fly into clouds and unleash electrical charges to beat the sweltering 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) heat. Cloud seeding is used in parts of Australia to enhance rain, snowfall and water security. I'm your host, Laurel Ruma. Pictured: Local resident inspects floodwater in her street on March 31, 2022 in Lismore, NSW, Pictured: Debris from flood-damaged homes piles up in Lismore, NSW, Tuesday, March 29, 2022, Conspiracy theorist James Bartolo (pictured) claimsAustralia's east coast are part of a 'government weather warfare attack'. What are you working on now, and what are you thinking about next? Reuters quoted the Bureau of Meteorology, which said Sydney had received 1,227 mm (48 inches) of rain so far this year, more than its average annual rainfall of 1,213 mm adding that many coastal towns could see up to 180 mm (7 inches) of rainfall. The United Arab Emirates have been hit particularly hard by this season's sweltering heat, recording a 51.8C this June (that . 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. The photograph shows two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) DC-3 planes flying above some cumulus clouds. These fall to the ground as snow or raindrops, depending on the surface temperatures. Seeding clouds as a way to change weather began its history as a serious science during WWII, originally as a way to interrupt severe storms or to produce rain and snow. As floods devastated Australia's east coast, social media posts accused a pilot of causing the disaster through cloud seeding, a weather modification technique that involves dropping a rain-inducing chemical into clouds. Water vapor in the atmosphere can then adhere to the particles, and condense into raindrops or snowflakes. As well as the rising river levels, the amount of rain falling locally causes flash floods all across the city and its outer suburbs as creeks swell, inundating areas that escaped the 2011 floods. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Tasmania saw very low rainfall, around 26 percent below the average for March 2022. The area of cooler air in the upper atmosphere drifts into the low pressure trough and starts to deliver record-breaking downpours over Brisbane and its surrounds. We call them UAEREP [United Arab Emirates Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science]. Cloud seeding involves modifying a cloud's structure to increase the chance of precipitation. There are up to 15,000 homes flooded in the city, with 1,544 people in evacuation centres in the south-east. By James Dinneen March 3, 2022. There is no evidence to back up such theories, but this hasn't prevented falsehoods from reaching thousands of people online. . Often they require minus 25 degrees or even lower. Bartolo was handcuffed on his lounge room floor in a struggle seconds after the police broke inside. 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.. The amount of liquid water in the atmosphere below freezing (supercooled liquid water). Formerly, cloud seeding was rejected in Australia on environmental grounds because of concerns about the protected species, the pygmy possum. For more information about us and the show, please check out our website at technologyreview.com. Handel said he tasked his operations manager, Anthony Berko, with responding to each email and calling people who provided their phone numbers. Once this water is released from the hydropower lakes, downstream river catchments can also benefit from increased water to irrigate crops. more time. The flight lasted an hour and 34 minutes over the Upper Derwent catchment, targeting Lake Echo. 4m ago. Messaging from rooftops: Lismores flooded residents document a disaster, Eastern Australian states hit by major flooding after rain bomb weather event, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Eastern Australia reeling from NSW and Queensland 2022 floods as downpour moves south video report, NSWdeath toll rises to five; more high impact storms forecast for Queensland as it happened, Australia east coast floods: how to help those affected in NSW and Queensland, There is no comprehending the sound and fury of the flooding that pulverised Brisbane, A jetski turned up with Mick Fanning on it: world champion surfer ferries locals through NSW floods, Ballina flood: thousands of homes impacted with peak to continue for a number of hours, Sydney on high alert for flash flooding over next 24 hours as heavy rain lashes city, Floods and livestock losses leave NSW and Queensland farmers reeling from third disaster in three years, Flood of help: how the NSW and Queensland disaster has brought neighbours closer together, Disaster agency defends not listing Lismore as flooding priority area for funding, NSW and Qld floods live updates latest eastern Australia flood news, Ballina: emergency orders issued for NSW coastal town as waters rise, Lismore man saves 16 people and five dogs after losing his own home, Flash flood warning for parts of Sydney and nearby districts, evacuation orders are issued for South Ballina. In the 1950s, another scientist named Bernard Vonnegut proposed his cloud seeding idea in which he noted that clouds need other particles like bacteria or algae to produce precipitation. The condensation nuclei that give birth to clouds are extremely small, measuring around two micrometres, which is about 1/100th the size of a single cloud droplet. who leads the centers work on cloud seeding, told the AP that claims linking the process to flooding lack an understanding of how cloud seeding works. An independent investigation sought by Tasmania's parliament into the causes of the 2016 flooding found that cloud seeding, a process aimed at increasing precipitation, had no impact on the severe weather. Immediately after the seeding is released, the electronic equipment, which are electronic optical cameras, will quickly take many, many photos to record the image while the seeding material's falling. It was not written by MIT Technology Reviews editorial staff. Because the coated nanolayers are more hydrophilic and porous, the water can be absorbed easily and increase the local relative humidity of the crystals and increase the probability of forming water droplets. In Australia, a La Nia increases the likelihood of rain, cyclones, and cooler daytime temperatures. 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. Others pointed to terms used in media coverage as proof the floods were part of an 'attack' and not natural. A Facebook post with over 23K views asserts this claim with footage from a news broadcast about cloud seeding before a severe flood in Southern Tasmania. Our in-depth reporting reveals whats going on now to prepare you for whats coming next. This podcast episode was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. Through a reverse image search, we found that 7News Melbourne posted the original broadcast on their Facebook page on June 10, 2016, with the caption: "Residents in southern Tasmania want to know why cloud seeding was conducted the day before severe flooding hit the region." It's not infallible, but it's been used all around the world to - for example - help irrigate crops. The first three months of 2022 brought a year's worth of rain to Sydney. New video piece available now! Cloud seeding is a real thing. My guest today is Dr. Linda Zou, who is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Khalifa University of Science and Technology. The flight was collecting images for aerial maps provided to Australian mapping company NearMap, he said. Cloud seeding got its start in 1947, with General Electric scientists working under a military contract to find a way to de-ice planes in cold weather and create fog to obscure troop movements. It involves manipulating existing clouds to try and help them produce more rain or snow. This episode was produced by Collective Next. There is no evidence to prove cloud seeding affected the flood. one wrote. Information supplied by Weatherzone based on data provided by the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), Copyright 2023 Weatherzone | v6.5.8 (b498), Note to media: You are welcome to republish text from the above news article as direct quotes from Weatherzone. Cloud-seeding is a weather-modification practice used to artificially create or promote additional rain/snow from existing clouds. reach out to us at