2009 Feb 16 Rain Makers
The rain that finally broke Beijing's 110-day dry spell fell harder and longer than it would have, thanks to the local government adopting cloud-seeding and other artificial precipitation measures. Given the favorable conditions (the meteorological bureau was predicting light rain) the local government decided to launch a land and air offensive on Feb 12 to try increase the amount of rain that would fall over Beijing. According to a report placed on the meteorological bureau's website, one plane from the Chinese air force was called into offer air support to 7 ground teams who blasted 49 rockets into the low lying clouds and another 31 teams who were busy burning 875 sticks of Silver iodide atop various mountains around suburban and rural Beijing.
China Daily quote Zhang Qiang, deputy director of the Beijing weather modification command center as saying that "the weather department spent a long time planning several measures used to enhance the precipitation."
The report went on to say:
By 5 pm yesterday, 12 silver iodide rockets had been launched into the skies of Beijing's suburban Pinggu, Miyun and Changping districts.
The local air force had also dispatched a transport plane to release 400 liters of liquid nitrogen in northern Beijing, an official statement said.
Twenty-one rocket launch bases in the city and 25 ground precipitation enhancement facilities in the mountains of eight districts were used to seed the clouds, it added.
Zhang said these actions could increase rainfall by 10 to 15 percent.
The precipitation enhancement involved at least 200 people.
The rain-making was supervised by the Beijing Weather Modification Office (BWMO) and is part of a broader operation to provide much needed rain to large parts of northern China. You can view a couple of videos below of the rockets containing Silver iodide being launched into clouds on Thursday morning. The first video also contains images of smoke containing the chemical being released from mountain tops across the greater Beijing area. The rain-making exercise appeared to be a success, with the Beijing News reporting that an average of 9mm of rain fell in the urban districts of Beijing and an average of 7mm across the whole metropolitan area. Originally the forecast was for a fall of about 3mm across the city. Today's paper also reports that another light shower is expected either tomorrow or on Wednesday.
The second video shows a plane spreading liquid nitrogen through potential rain clouds in Shanxi, Hubei and Shandong. A similar plane flew through the skies above Miyun, Guanding Reservoir and Northern Hubei on Thursday afternoon.
For those who are interested, there's a bit of background on the technicalities of seeding clouds here.
Finally, anyone worried about the possible environmental consequences of shooting a whole lot of a chemical that's best known for its use in developing photos into the sky, Zhang Qiang is once again quoted as saying that:
"It will not harm the environment, because only 0.5 g of silver iodide seeding was used for every sq km."
Links and Sources
Beijing Meteorological Bureau
China Daily: Light showers fall on Beijing after 110 parched days
The Observers: Firing rockets to bring on the rain (image)
Monsters and Critics: China creates rain, diverts water to ease drought
Xinhua: 空军飞机成功为北京人工增雨 本网记者亲历
The First: 北京布阵25个作业点“抓”雨
The Beijing Daily: Beijing Embraces 1st Rain after 111 Rainless Days
The Scientific Report: Artificial Rain a Cure for Droughts?
Wired: China Leads Weather Control Race
The Beijinger Forum: Beijing and rain...
USA Today: China rolls out the big guns, aiming for a dry Olympics (image)
STdaily.com: 北京人工增雨是如何实现的？
The Beijinger Blog: Nary a Drop in Sight
Time China Blog: Rain in Beijing, Finally
Video
Youku: “脱水”110天北京人工增雨解渴
Youku: 中国空军调集20架运输机为旱区执行人工增雨
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Pic of the Week: 10:05 from my window
Image courtesy of coeurdelion
The above image was taken this morning from Landmark Towers on the North East corner of the Third Ring Road. In another sign of how grim things are, the Firefox plug-in that flashes weather updates on our desktop currently reads blowing dust.
Links and Sources:
The Beijinger Forum: Smog...fog...haze...what is it?
Beijing Landmark TowersGet Ready for Grit
Spring is right around the corner, and with that comes the annual spring sandstorm season. For newbies to Beijing, this means a few months of dust and dirt blowing through town like a vacuum cleaner on reverse, and when it gets bad, conditions can be downright apocalyptic.2008 is looking especially grim, according to the Beijing Meteorological Station, which is predicting as many as 11 days of dust storms this year due to a warm winter and less rainfall in the desert areas surrounding the capital.
Xinhua reports that recent years have seen an average of 9.7 days of dust storms, though last year saw only three blow through town. But because 2007 saw 11 percent less precipitation than the average levels of previous years, spring is indeed looking like gritty.
Better dust off those facemasks now.
Holy Smoke, Beijing!
Break out the masks, folks!
According to the State Environmental Protection Administration, the brown haze that descended on our fair city hit a whopping 421 on the Air Pollution Index today. To put that in perspective, on a good day it hovers between 50-150. On a bad day, we're looking at 200 or so.
In fact, today's smog is so bad that the American Environmental Protection Agency rates it as Condition Maroon - or Hazardous. They even go so far as to advise "AQI values over 300 trigger health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected." Doctors recommend not undertaking physical exercise outside, and limiting exposure to the pollution.
Not a day to be leaving the house, if you can avoid it. And if you do, make sure you mask up!
No New Slopes
With slopes mushrooming up around the city these past few years, skiing has become the bai ling winter sport of choice – a trend that heretofore had developers gleefully plotting plans and land for bigger, better and even newer resorts.But according to skirebel.com this will all soon grind to a halt: the National Reform and Development Committee and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of State and Land Resources have jointly decided to put a stop to further ski area development within municipal boundaries, which may complicate things for developers like Melco International, a Hong Kong listed company controlled by the son of Macau gambling magnate Stanley Ho that has plans to acquire the Lianhuashan ski resort in Beijing’s Shunyi District.
Blue Skies
As the sky looms gray and depressing over Beijing and even the shortest bike rides result in sore throats and suspicious coughs, rest assured that there’s a reason for it all: those peasants are at it again! The Beijing Environmental Protection Agency issued a statement last week that seasonal straw burning in rural areas was in part responsible for the visible recent increase in pollution in the capital. Burning excess straw, a low-cost alternative to tilling it into the soil, is done in preparation for a second planting. Although burning straw was prohibited in Beijing in 2000, the practice continues in neighboring provinces, and occurs annually at this time of year.
