Delhi to Experience First Artificial Rain: Cloud-Seeding Scheduled from July 4 to 11

The Delhi government is all set to conduct its first-ever artificial rain through cloud seeding from July 4 to 11. This came in an effort to curb pollution in the national capital. IIT Kanpur is in charge of the technical operations for this project, News18 reported, citing sources. BJP's Rekha Gupta-led government has secured permission from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and plans to induce rain when weather conditions are favourable.

The total cost for the artificial rain in Delhi will be around ₹3.21 crore. Each trial will last 90 minutes and involve spraying a mixture of nanoparticles and salt from an aircraft, the News18 report said. Moreover, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has already conveyed its support for the project, confirming meteorological feasibility over the National Capital Region (NCR).

The project on the artificial rain in Delhi is under the name - ‘Technology Demonstration and Evaluation of Cloud Seeding as an Alternative for Delhi NCR Pollution Mitigation'. It is planned to involve five aircraft sorties over low-security air zones in northwest and outer Delhi.

How will the process look?

In each trial, the flights will release a special mix into the clouds using a dedicated flare system. This mix has been developed by IIT Kanpur and contains silver iodide nanoparticles, iodised salt, and rock salt. This mixture will help in accelerating the formation of raindrops in moisture-laden clouds, enabling artificial rainfall.

So far, the IIIT Kanpur has conducted seven successful in-house cloud seeding experiments between April and July. These experiments were done in drought-prone regions using the same aircraft and flare systems.

According to the source: WION.