Global Climatic Changes and Weather Modification Technologies

Description

Weather Modification (Cloud Seeding) is a technology, which helps in disaster management. The technology of weather modification is being developed in different countries. Global warming due to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases, if it occurs, will be the most significant change in weather and climate ever produced by human beings. One can speculate about the possibility of offsetting this inadvertent, long-term weather modification by deliberately modifying the weather through cloud seeding. The most common form of weather modification is cloud seeding, which increases rain or snow, usually for the purpose of increasing the local water supply. Weather modification can also have the goal of preventing damaging weather, such as hail or hurricanes, from occurring; or of provoking damaging weather against the enemy, as a tactic of military or economic warfare like Operation Popeye, where clouds were seeded to prolong the monsoon in Vietnam. Weather modification in warfare has been banned by the United Nations under Environmental Modification Convention. While we are to be modest, it is brought to the notice of the reader that this book attempts to provide as wide coverage of the topics related to cloud seeding. The extent of coverage of each topic varies depending upon the state of art of the development.