Tehran, Iran, Jan. 7
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iran started cloud seeding process in seven provinces.
Yazd, Kerman, Fars, Isfahan, West Azarbaijan, East Azarbaijan, and Tehran are the mentioned provinces, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported Jan. 7.
According to the head of Cloud Seeding Research Center Mohammad Mehdi Javadianzadeh, the project will continue until May.
"During the period some 50 flights will be done in the mentioned provinces," he said.
"Each flight will cost some 1.1 billion rials (some $34,375 based on the exchange rate of US dollar at the free market)," the official added.
"We currently have two special aircraft cable of carrying out the project, but the energy ministry has agreed to provide us with three other aircraft in the next four years," Javadianzadeh added.
Cloud seeding, a form of weather modification, is the attempt to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter the microphysical processes within the cloud.
The usual intent is to increase precipitation (rain or snow), but hail and fog suppression are also widely practiced around airports.
Cloud seeding also occurs due to ice nucleators in nature, most of which are bacterial in origin.
Edited by CN