International India trials Delhi cloud seeding to clean air in world’s most polluted city

[LeonardoBjj]

Bharatiya Janata party launches first test flight as brown haze blankets city after Diwali – but experts decry ‘gimmick’

Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi

The Delhi regional government is trialling a cloud-seeding experiment to induce artificial rain, in an effort to clean the air in the world’s most polluted city.

The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has been proposing the use of cloud seeding as a way to bring Delhi’s air pollution under control since it was elected to lead the regional government this year.

Cloud seeding involves using aircraft or drones to add to clouds particles of silver iodide, which have a structure similar to ice. Water droplets cluster around the particles, modifying the structure of the clouds and increasing the chance of precipitation.

Months of unpredictable weather over India’s capital had put the BJP’s cloud-seeding plans on pause. But days after Delhi’s air quality once again fell into the hazardous range after Diwali festival, and a thick brown haze settled over the city, the government said the scheme would finally be rolled out.

The Delhi environment minister, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, said the first trial flight – during which seeding flares were launched into the sky – was conducted on Thursday.

The city’s chief minister, Rekha Gupta, said: “If conditions remain favourable, Delhi will experience its first artificial rain on October 29.”

Experts who have studied cloud seeding say it is no panacea. It is supposed to produce more frequent and heavier rain than the clouds would otherwise release, but the effect is often small. The process also requires clouds, and they are often not present over Delhi during winter when pollution peaks. It also does not address the root causes of pollutants.


Two professors at Delhi’s Centre for Atmospheric Sciences condemned the plan as a “gimmick”. “It is a textbook case of science misapplied and ethics ignored,” said Shahzad Gani and Krishna AchutaRao, writing in the Hindu newspaper.

They equated the plans with the “smog towers” that were erected in Delhi by the previous government, at the cost of billions of rupees, but were found to be largely ineffectual at improving air quality.

They also warned that there was little research into the long-term effects on repeated use of the chemicals used in cloud seeding, such as silver iodide or sodium chloride, on agriculture and human health.

“Snake-oil solutions will not clear the air in Delhi or the rest of North India,” Gani and AchutaRao said.

Delhi has been ranked as the world’s most polluted city for more than a decade. In 2024, pollution levels – caused by a deadly mix of emissions from crop burning, factories and heavy traffic, which get trapped over the city when the air gets colder – rose by 6%.

During winter, levels of PM2.5 and PM 10 – the fine particulate matter that causes pollution – in the city regularly go far above those seen during the famous “airpocalypse” in Beijing in 2013, before the Chinese government took stringent initiatives to clean the air.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ir-world-polluted-city-bharatiya-janata-party

- India has those oxygen things like the Double Dragon movie?
Btw. Is a pretty fun movie.

 

[Broke Lester]

Amazing people, there's absolutely nothing they can't turn into shit.

 

[heloder]

 

[High Test With da Best]

Bharatiya Janata party launches first test flight as brown haze blankets city after Diwali – but experts decry ‘gimmick’

Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi

The Delhi regional government is trialling a cloud-seeding experiment to induce artificial rain, in an effort to clean the air in the world’s most polluted city.

The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has been proposing the use of cloud seeding as a way to bring Delhi’s air pollution under control since it was elected to lead the regional government this year.

Cloud seeding involves using aircraft or drones to add to clouds particles of silver iodide, which have a structure similar to ice. Water droplets cluster around the particles, modifying the structure of the clouds and increasing the chance of precipitation.

Months of unpredictable weather over India’s capital had put the BJP’s cloud-seeding plans on pause. But days after Delhi’s air quality once again fell into the hazardous range after Diwali festival, and a thick brown haze settled over the city, the government said the scheme would finally be rolled out.

The Delhi environment minister, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, said the first trial flight – during which seeding flares were launched into the sky – was conducted on Thursday.

The city’s chief minister, Rekha Gupta, said: “If conditions remain favourable, Delhi will experience its first artificial rain on October 29.”

Experts who have studied cloud seeding say it is no panacea. It is supposed to produce more frequent and heavier rain than the clouds would otherwise release, but the effect is often small. The process also requires clouds, and they are often not present over Delhi during winter when pollution peaks. It also does not address the root causes of pollutants.


Two professors at Delhi’s Centre for Atmospheric Sciences condemned the plan as a “gimmick”. “It is a textbook case of science misapplied and ethics ignored,” said Shahzad Gani and Krishna AchutaRao, writing in the Hindu newspaper.

They equated the plans with the “smog towers” that were erected in Delhi by the previous government, at the cost of billions of rupees, but were found to be largely ineffectual at improving air quality.

They also warned that there was little research into the long-term effects on repeated use of the chemicals used in cloud seeding, such as silver iodide or sodium chloride, on agriculture and human health.

“Snake-oil solutions will not clear the air in Delhi or the rest of North India,” Gani and AchutaRao said.

Delhi has been ranked as the world’s most polluted city for more than a decade. In 2024, pollution levels – caused by a deadly mix of emissions from crop burning, factories and heavy traffic, which get trapped over the city when the air gets colder – rose by 6%.

During winter, levels of PM2.5 and PM 10 – the fine particulate matter that causes pollution – in the city regularly go far above those seen during the famous “airpocalypse” in Beijing in 2013, before the Chinese government took stringent initiatives to clean the air.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ir-world-polluted-city-bharatiya-janata-party

- India has those oxygen things like the Double Dragon movie?
Btw. Is a pretty fun movie.

Did you happen to see why the CO2/smog capture towers "failed"?

I was under the impression they were still seeing regular operation and positive results in both Delhi and Beijing, this is the first I've heard of trouble.
Were they just not built for the long-term service and started breaking down or something?

 

[Flower2dPeople]

It's going to rain shit.

 

[Evbo]

Anything but reduce pollution at source, amirite?

 

[Cajun]

I feel like when you look at places like India and Bangladesh you realize that a lot of the work on climate control and recycling is useless unless you do something in these countries. Dont know if the cloud seeding will work but their issues go far beyond that one single issue.

 

[Rygu]

Imagine the smell

 

[Blayt7hh]

India seriously looks like one of the worst places in the world. America used to have crazy smog around its cities and garbage all over highways too though. So next time people talk about rolling back those climate protections measures remember those pictures of India

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I feel like when you look at places like India and Bangladesh you realize that a lot of the work on climate control and recycling is useless unless you do something in these countries. Dont know if the cloud seeding will work but their issues go far beyond that one single issue.

We can still influence this. Think about how much of the stuff you buy is made in these countries.

 

[usernamee]

I feel like when you look at places like India and Bangladesh you realize that a lot of the work on climate control and recycling is useless unless you do something in these countries. Dont know if the cloud seeding will work but their issues go far beyond that one single issue.

Nah bro, white westerners need to reduce plastic bag usage from 5 to 2 per week. And recycle their bottles!

That should do it.

 

[Scerpi]

Nah bro, white westerners need to reduce plastic bag usage from 5 to 2 per week. And recycle their bottles!

That should do it.

Or paper bags…

Plastic water bottles and bags were a terrible decision

Turning in cans/bottles for recycle money and drinking from water hoses were a big part of my childhood

Probably helped our immune systems too

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Nah bro, white westerners need to reduce plastic bag usage from 5 to 2 per week. And recycle their bottles!

That should do it.

To be fair if we reduce our use of plastic junk then that reduces the incentive for these countries to produce plastic junk to sell to us.

 

[Cajun]

We can still influence this. Think about how much of the stuff you buy is made in these countries.

My point is there needs to be serious offering of investment to help clean this stuff up in countries like this. You never see Greta thunberg spending time in either one of these countries. I mean India has the 5th largest GDP. Not sure why they dont do anything to address it.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

My point is there needs to be serious offering of investment to help clean this stuff up in countries like this. You never see Greta thunberg spending time in either one of these countries. I mean India has the 5th largest GDP. Not sure why they dont do anything to address it.

What's their GDP per capita? They have an enormous population.

 

[Cajun]

What's their GDP per capita? They have an enormous population.

True. And they still have the caste system which keeps some on the bottom. They have one of the highest number of billionaires yet some of the poorest people. They built the world's largest refinery and have lots of things going on. But they need to focus and maybe get some help from other countries. The amount of pollution in countries like India and China are brutal and def offset a lot of work done by others. For instance, India contributes 127k tons of plastic to the ocean annually. Thats 254M lbs. Its staggering.

 

[Kingz]

Just reading about India gives me diarrhea

 

[usernamee]

To be fair if we reduce our use of plastic junk then that reduces the incentive for these countries to produce plastic junk to sell to us.

The big problem is that it seems to be taboo to speak about that the REAL problem occurs in the third world countries.

And for some strange reason when people bring this up it apparently is once again, you guessed it, racist! And therefore we shall not ever discuss this with rationality ever again if ever dared to be mentioned!

 

[Hellowhosthat]

The big problem is that it seems to be taboo to speak about that the REAL problem occurs in the third world countries.

And for some strange reason when people bring this up it apparently is once again, you guessed it, racist! And therefore we shall not ever discuss this with rationality ever again if ever dared to be mentioned!

Part of the real problem. The US is still an elite polluter both in total and per capita.

 

[TUFNewb]

Multiple reasons this will not work. For one their dry winter season does not allow for good cloud-seeding.

They are desperate to look like they are doing something.