(source)Solo una COLOSSALE PANZANA

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L'avventura continua!

Scie chimiche come arma meteorologica? Solo una COLOSSALE PANZANA

Sto scrivendo APOCALISSE NERA, il terzo tomo della trilogia dell'Apocalisse, legato al nuovo filone del meteo-thriller.

E a noi?

Sto dunque affrontando seriamente il dilemma dell'Haarp, questa base scientifica piazzata in Alaska dagli americani che permetterebbe il miglioramento delle telecomunicazioni attraverso lo studio dell'interazione delle onde con la ionosfera e che viene in realtà accusato di essere un centro di esperimenti per la modifica artificiale del clima.

Sulla scia di questa corrente fantameteorologica, anche le scie di condensazione vengono additate come responsabili dell'aumento del particolato nell'ambiente, come probabili modificatrici del pensiero umano, causa di malesseri generali, dissolutrici delle nubi cumuliformi produttrici di pioggia.

Insomma, se è cosa buona e giusta occuparsi dell'Haarp e cercare di capire qualcosa di più sui suoi scopi e segreti, è anche giusto non far pervenire al pubblico messaggi fuorvianti.

E' vero! Aiutaci tu!

Le scie di condensazione esistono da quando esistono gli aerei dell'era moderna. Volando ad alta quota nelle zone più alte della troposfera, i residui lasciati dalla combustione dei gas provocano la diffusione nell'aria di vapore acqueo e particelle, pulviscolo, i cosìddetti nuclei di condensazione.

L'aria molto fredda presente a quella quota genera piccolissimi cristalli di ghiaccio che sono visibili dunque come una scia biancastra nel cielo.

In effetti sono artificiali ma non costituiscono alcun tipo di pericolo per nessuno, nè alcuna arma meteorologica.

Perchè allora ogni tanto riempiono il cielo e ogni tanto no?

Perchè se l'aria è stabile e secca le scie non si formano, se invece è umida tenderanno a formarsi in modo anche spettacolare.

Eh già!

Una scia di condensazione difficilmente compare da sola, se guardate il cielo a 360° noterete sempre la presenza di qualche cirro naturale, suo gemello naturale, chiaro segnale di un afflusso di aria più umida ad alta quota.

Molte scie chimiche e molti cirri sono al massimo il segnale dell'avvicinarsi di un fronte, non certo di un pericolo che arriva dal cielo.

Perché le chiami scie chimiche, se chimiche non sono?

Quanto al particolato la cosa è perlomeno trascurabile, non sappiamo nemmeno tutto su quello nei bassi strati...

E se non lo sappiamo, perché stiamo qui a discutere?

L'influenza in termini meteorologici è invece rilevante a livello di temperature: molti cirri aviatici misti a quelli naturali durante il giorno intercettano parte della radiazione solare e mantengono leggermente più basse le temperature massime, specie se coprono solo la porzione di cielo nella quale transita il sole.

Di notte invece impediscono al calore di disperdersi nello spazio, rilanciandolo sulla Terra attraverso le onde lunghe. Dunque determinano leggeri rialzi nelle temperature minime. La cosa ha però un senso se la copertura di questi filamenti è massiccia, non se sono presenti in forma sporadica.

Forse è tempo di frugare nei bookmark. Per esempio, potresti comprare Newton in edicola.

NEWTON - I fabbricanti della pioggia

Siccita' planetaria? Clima sempre piu' arido? C'e' chi ha una soluzione: sono i modificatori del tempo, che promettono di stimolare le nubi a produrre pioggia, o di sciogliere nebbia e randine. Ma non tutti sono d'accordo su queste tecniche e temono squilibri ambientali.

Il pianeta è a secco. Le precipitazioni sono calate a livello mondiale tanto che le persone prive di acqua potabile hanno superato il miliardo. In Italia, oltre alla siccità che ha colpito duramente negli ultimi mesi, nevica sempre meno nelle regioni alpine. Mentre la nebbia continua a fare danni in aeroporti e autostrade. Ma c'è chi propone, anche in Italia, di intervenire sul clima per modificarlo.

Per fare in modo che aumenti la pioggia, che la grandine si sciolga prima di cadere e che la nebbia si dissolva in neve. Una serie di interventi di rilevanza talmente ampia che anche i militari hanno deciso di sfruttare la tecnologia che ne è alla base. Non c'è pioggia senza "nucleo": Far piovere non è neanche tanto complesso. Se n'era già accorto nel 1946 il ricercatore americano Vincent Schaefer, grazie a un facile ma geniale esperimento fatto nei laboratori della General Electric di Schenectady, una cittadina nello stato di New York: per far coagulare le goccioline di acqua che compongono le nuvole era bastato aggiungere una manciata di ghiaccio secco.

Schaefer infatti, già allievo di Irving Langmuir, premio Nobel per la chimica nel 1932, aveva visto che per far ghiacciare le goccioline di acqua, in maniera che il peso delle particelle superasse la forza delle correnti ascensionali e dunque si trasformasse in precipitazione, non bastava portarle a basse temperature. Anche a -23 gradi infatti, in assenza di agenti esterni, l'acqua può rimanere nella sua fase liquida, così come il vapore rimane tale anche a elevate pressioni. Sono i cosiddetti stati metastabili della materia. L'elemento chiave perché vapore e acqua nelle nuvole si trasformino in pioggia si chiama nucleo di condensazione: un insieme di particelle, il ghiaccio secco nel caso di Schaefer, che faccia da elemento coagulante per le goccioline sospese nell'atmosfera. Queste particelle nell'ambiente possono avere varie origini: dalla terra e dal mare, sotto forma di polveri erose e sollevate dal vento, dagli incendi di boschi e prati, dalle eruzioni vulcaniche e anche dal materiale particolato derivante dalle attività industriali.

L'inseminazione delle nubi: Oggi il reagente più usato per far piovere o, come si dice in gergo, "inseminare" le nuvole, è lo ioduro di argento. Una sostanza facilmente reperibile, dai bassi costi e che, una volta bruciata, libera delle particelle che hanno la stessa struttura a cristallo del ghiaccio. Come si fa a far piovere allora? Innanzitutto bisogna aspettare le condizioni favorevoli in natura: la presenza di importanti formazioni nuvolose con molte gocce di acqua o vapore in stato metastabile (la cosiddetta acqua sopraffusa e il vapore soprassaturo). Poi si comincia a far circolare all'interno della nuvola i fumi della combustione di ioduro d'argento grazie a razzi e diffusori piazzati sotto le ali di piccoli aeroplani.

In particolare per fare questo esistono diversi sistemi. C'è quello "israeliano", dalla nazionalità di coloro che lo brevettarono, che consiste nel disseminare i fumi alla base della nuvola facendo zigzagare l'aereo a un'altezza di solito non superiore ai 1500/1700 metri, in maniera che i moti convettivi, ovvero le correnti ascensionali, portino naturalmente lo ioduro d'argento bruciato all'interno delle nubi. Negli Stati Uniti invece è diffuso un metodo più rischioso e costoso, particolarmente adatto contro le formazioni di tornado e uragani, basato sull'utilizzo di sali igroscopici (che attirano l'acqua) come agenti coagulanti. I piloti infatti rilasciano questi sali in cima alla nube, dovendo così penetrare, in caso di forte turbolenze, nell'occhio del ciclone, fino a salire anche a quote di 7/8000 metri.

Infine è anche possibile lanciare razzi all'interno della nuvola, ma solo quando le nubi sono compatte e grosse. Per cui l'obiettivo è limitato e facilmente centrabile. Il risultato di queste diverse tipologie di intervento è che lo ioduro di argento o i sali igroscopici fanno aggregare le diverse particelle di vapore e le gocce d'acqua fino a farle ghiacciare. Le gocce così appesantite vincono la forza dei moti convettivi e cadono verso il basso, fino a sciogliersi durante la caduta e trasformarsi in pioggia.

Anche l'Italia è pronta: Attualmente sono una trentina gli Stati che ufficialmente stanno sperimentando o già attuando interventi per modificare il clima. Nel Midwest americano i piloti della Weather Modification Inc. sono vigili 24 ore su 24 in attesa di sfidare qualche ciclone o uragano; i principali aeroporti russi utilizzano ormai sistematicamente una tecnica antinebbia a base di azoto; in Cina si combatte la siccità sparando da terra razzi a contenuto chimico contro le nubi; in Tailandia per difendersi dai monsoni è stato creato un Bureau of Royal Rainmaking.

E anche in Italia una società è pronta a far piovere a comando, ma attende il sì delle autorità.

Le quali, ovviamente, non sanno mai nulla di nulla.

Nebbia e grandine dissolte: La stessa tecnologia utilizzata per fabbricare la pioggia può essere utilizzata per tentare di ridurre i danni di alluvioni e grandinate. Usando ricevitori satellitari e radar meteorologici, i tecnici delle società che "fabbricano il clima" individuano il formarsi o l'avvicinarsi di queste forti perturbazioni. Per poi, con il sistema dell'inseminazione, fare scaricare in mare oppure in maniera anticipata, e dunque diluita, una parte del carico delle nuvole. Interventi questi non risolutivi, ma che possono limitare i danni.

In quasi tutti gli aeroporti russi, poi, la nebbia viene sistematicamente sconfitta per via tecnologica. Ovviamente su tratti limitati, ma sufficienti per garantire la visibilità necessaria a un pilota durante decolli e atterraggi o a un automobilista per viaggiare in autostrada.

Per quale oscuro motivo tutti gli altri imbecilli non ci sono arrivati, mentre i russi sì?

Il reagente utilizzato in questo tipo di interventi, nel caso delle nebbie fredde (quelle che si formano a una temperatura al di sotto degli 0 gradi), è l'azoto liquido. La tecnica, inventata dai russi, è basata sul principio per cui disperdendo l'azoto all'interno dei banchi di nebbia si creano delle zone con temperature basse. Queste danno origine a piccole formazioni di ghiaccio che a loro volta coagulano a sé sempre più particelle di vapore fino a diventare troppo pesanti e cadere al suolo come neve. Il sistema è già stato attuato con successo ma solo in sei Paesi del mondo, tra cui l'Italia.

La Tecnagro, l'associazione italiana no profit che si batte per la applicazione dell'inseminazione meterologica, l'ha infatti sperimentato tra il '97 e il '99 disponendo intorno alla pista dell'Aeroporto Civile di Parma dei grossi diffusori di azoto. "Purtroppo", dice Massimo Bartolelli, presidente dell'associazione, "malgrado l'efficacia dell'intervento, le società che gestiscono le autostrade e gli aeroporti italiani si sono rivelate "non interessate" alla cosa".

Per quale oscuro motivo? Per bloccare l'aeroporto ogni due giorni quando nevica?

In fase ancora non operativa invece è la possibilità di sconfiggere le nebbie che si formano a temperature superiori allo zero. Lo strumento migliore finora sperimentato, sia per efficacia dell'azione sia per il basso costo di utilizzo, è il calore elettrico. Disponendo pannelli elettrici intorno all'area interessata infatti, il caldo dissolve la nebbia. Esperimenti in questo senso sono stati fatti in Russia, ma ci vorrà ancora qualche anno prima di pensare a un reale impiego di questa tecnologia.

I cannoni della neve: Ben diffusa invece è la tecnologia alla base dei "cannoni" che soprattutto questo inverno hanno innevato le piste alpine di sci. La neve artificiale viene prodotta grazie a potenti compressori di aria e di acqua che, agendo in maniera combinata, producono goccioline di acqua finemente vaporizzata. Queste poi vengono sparate all'esterno dalle ventole di innevaggio e a contatto con l'aria fredda si ghiacciano. Per questo motivo è necessario che la temperatura ambiente sia non inferiore ai 3 gradi sotto zero e l'umidità al di sotto dell'80 per cento. Il risultato è una neve artificiale che ha una struttura cristallina diversa rispetto alla neve naturale, più compatta e densa (fino a 4 volte rispetto alla neve fresca) e che necessita dunque tempi molto più lunghi per sciogliersi, nell'ordine anche di alcune settimane.

Il dibattito ambientale: Sembra tutto molto semplice, a detta dei "fabbricanti del tempo". In realtà, tanti sono i dubbi sull'efficacia di questi progetti, così come le proteste di coloro che temono squilibri ambientali. Se si fa piovere in Friuli cosa succede nei cieli del Veneto ? E se tutti si mettessero a sparare razzi chimici contro le nubi non ne potrebbero derivare danni per l'ambiente e per l'uomo?

Per non parlare di coloro che osteggiano anche i collaudati sistemi di innevamento artificiale perché sono convinti che danneggino la flora. Il colonnello Mario Giuliacci, responsabile del Centro Epson Meteo, crede nell'efficacia in sé delle modificazioni artificiali del tempo, "ma l'importante", avvisa, "è che queste non provochino benefici a costi troppo alti. Il gas propano e i ventilatori sperimentati per sciogliere la nebbia fino a un paio di anni fa raggiungevano l'obiettivo, ma inquinavano l'aria".

E soprattutto, continua Giuliacci "è lecito che l'uomo intervenga sul tempo, ma non sul clima. Va bene l'azione umana su una zona ristretta per smorzare una perturbazione o per rendere visibile una pista di atterraggio, ma non accetto gli interventi che destabilizzano la situazione meteorologica di una intera regione".

Questo è divertente e merita il suo post a parte. Perché non li accetti? Non esistono.

Gli esperti del clima "a richiesta" però minimizzano. Per Bruce Bow, capo meteorologo della Weather Modification Inc., "in natura i cicli idrologici sono talmente vasti e complessi che l'azione umana non può neanche pensare di destabilizzarli nel loro complesso". E, aggiunge, la stessa civilizzazione umana contribuisce a modificare il clima già per il fatto che esiste. "Nella Regione delle Praterie in Canada", continua Bow, "fino a cent'anni fa c'erano solo prati. Oggi c'è una distesa unica di centinaia di milioni di ettari di frumento. Il frumento matura molto più tardi e a lungo dell'erba e dunque immette nell'aria molta più umidità. Che in queste quantità ha modificato notevolmente in pochi anni il sistema delle precipitazioni in tutta la regione. Dobbiamo parlare allora di ingerenza umana sull'ambiente?"

"Una natura inefficiente": Bartolelli invece punta l'attenzione su un altro aspetto: "La natura non si esprime al massimo delle sue potenzialità. Ogni volta che piove o nevica le nubi scaricano appena un quinto dell'acqua o del vapore che le compone. L'uomo con il suo intervento non fa altro che rendere il sistema climatico più efficiente". E su tutti i discorsi di maggiore o minore legittimità di questo tipo di interventi si impongono gli ultimi dati allarmanti del World Watch Institute.

Oggi muoiono mediamente 20mila persone al giorno per problemi connessi alla mancanza di acqua. E nel 2025 le persone che vivranno con scarse risorse idriche saranno circa tre miliardi. La verifica parla italiano: I difensori del clima artificiale sottolineano poi che l'azoto usato per dissolvere la nebbia è un elemento già presente nell'atmosfera e che lo ioduro d'argento, a cui si ricorre per provocare la pioggia, è utilizzato in minime quantità (in una missione aerea di 3 ore se ne utilizzano 600 grammi). Ma il vero problema è che da anni è in atto un forte dibattito sull'efficacia di questo tipo di interventi.

Ve ne eravate accorti, leggendo il quotidiano?

È infatti veramente difficile verificare in che misura le precipitazioni "artificiali" siano realmente dovute all'azione umana. "Gli esperti che elaborano le statistiche", dice Bartolelli, "catalogano le precipitazioni a seguito dell'inseminazione artificiale come "per lo più frutto del caso". Bartolelli invece sostiene che esiste un metodo scientifico efficace di verifica: "I dati rilevati con i nostri radar dimostrano che l'incremento medio delle precipitazioni è del 40 per cento". C'è da dire che questo metodo di verifica, non più basato su modelli statistici, ma sulla registrazione in tempo reale degli interventi sul clima attraverso l'occhio impassibile del radar, è stato sviluppato dalla stessa Tecnagro e si è diffuso anche in altri Paesi. Lo conferma Bruce Bow: "Al radar l'aumento della piovosità dovuta all'azione umana è inconfutabile".

La guerra del clima: Non sarà un caso che già dopo la seconda guerra mondiale gli eserciti tecnologicamente avanzati hanno cominciato a pensare a un utilizzo delle modificazione climatiche in chiave bellica. Da quello inglese, che portò avanti sperimentazioni nel Devonshire per scongiurare un eventuale attacco della Germania causando però nel 1952 un nubifragio in cui morirono 34 persone, a quello americano, vent'anni dopo, con l'obiettivo di anticipare i monsoni per limitare l'azione dei vietkong nella guerra in Vietnam (furono ben 2500 le missioni aeree di questo tipo).

Tanto che le Nazioni Unite nel 1970 hanno pensato bene di vietare qualsiasi tipo di azione bellica climatologica. Il che non significa che gli eserciti abbiano rivolto l'attenzione altrove. Il Ministero della Difesa americano nel 1996 ha lanciato un programma di sperimentazioni con l'obiettivo di "possedere il clima entro il 2025". Le voci del programma sono quelle di distruzione della logistica nemica attraverso acquazzoni e alluvioni, riduzione delle riserve di acqua e impoverimento dei terreni, diffusione della nebbia per disturbare i sistemi di comunicazione.

In questo scenario da fantascienza non c'è dunque da stupirsi nel sentire i futuribili progetti che circolano intorno alle nuove "fabbriche del clima": alcuni scienziati del Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) stanno pensando di coprire il tratto di oceano vicino alla costa che va da Boston a New York con una pellicola sottilissima e oleosa per evitare l'evaporazione e quindi il continuo abbassamento delle acque. Il ricercatore texano Ben Eastlund, invece, vuole piazzare nello spazio giganteschi trasmettitori di microonde che riscaldino eventuali tornado in formazione. In maniera da smorzarli sul nascere. Un sistema pericoloso se arrivasse a colpire centri urbani. Ma per Eastlund il rischio va affrontato "se il risultato è il dominio del clima".

Ma ecco un altro allegro personaggio per allietare la nostra giornata.

Chemtrails - Conspiracy Debunking

We've all seen planes flying overhead. Sometimes they leave long lasting contrails behind them. Well, someone got it into his head that these contrails weren't "normal". Someone must be spraying the populace with chemicals, and that "someone" must be the government because no one wants to deceive and kill the people as much as the government. Of course, if the government killed everyone, I don't know who's supposed to pay the taxes that keeps the government going, but that is another issue altogether.

Geniale!

So basically, the government (those rotten bastards) is spraying toxic chemicals or mind control substances or viruses or some crap all over the unsuspecting population. Normally a plane's visible exhaust plume is called a contrail. The term "Chemtrail" was coined by the conspiracy theorists to help gain credibility amongst people who can't think for themselves and might be looking for a cause to champion. As usual, if you feel this entire conspiracy theory seems a little bit out in left field ... that's because it is.

Avanti!

Numerous photos show a spray emanating from the entire wingspan of planes. It cannot possibly be from the engines, so they must be spraying something.

This is the basic staple of the Chemtrail conspiracy theory and likely started the whole thing off. This theory is based loosely on the principles which create contrails and is actually partially correct. The contrails are NOT always formed specifically by the engines.

Contrails (condensation trails) are created in an aircraft's wake when ice forms around the small particles of soot or aerosol that are expelled from the engines of the craft. These trails are formed behind the plane because the relative humidity increases due to the mixing of warm, moist exhaust gases and the colder, less humid ambient air of the atmosphere. Contrails will generally become visible roughly about one wingspan distance behind the aircraft and may be formed by propeller as well as jet turbine powered aircraft.

Contrails may also be created without the need for engine exhaust gases at all. This may happen when a wing surface or tip of a wing causes a cavitation of air in very humid conditions and can even happen near ground level. Note the contrails being produced by the wingtips of this F22 Raptor which is preparing to land. We've all seen examples like this before. You may remember a movie called Top Gun, for instance.

Here is another excellent example of a contrail being produced by something other than the exhaust of an aircraft's engines (or mysterious chemical sprays). This shows a contrail being caused by cavitation of air flowing over the wing of an aircraft. What better place to get a good view of the wonders of physics in action than from the plane itself? Thanks to Chris Coduto for use of this picture.

A final photo gives us another quite spectacular example of air cavitation creating contrails. The contrails being formed by the spinning propellors in the photo at left are clearly visible. These could not have been formed by the engine exhaust simply because they are in front of the engines. Each propellor is creating its own set of four distinct contrails. Thanks to Propfreak for use of this photo.

So the short explanation is that a contrail can be formed by more than just engine exhaust. In the right conditions, an entire wing could create a condensation trail which, from the ground, might look like a deliberate spray pattern. Show me some spraying devices and maybe I'll believe you, but a photo of a plane 40,000 feet away just isn't evidence enough.

The government is even spraying the oceans!

Those kooky government spy planes are at it again. This time they're spraying down the oceans with chemicals. What will they think of next?

This picture shows contrails over the Pacific ocean off California's coast. Once again, this is normal as the ocean air is typically very humid and contrails can form there as well as over land.

Looks like maybe a lot of commercial air traffic to the Hawaiian Islands to me.

Most chemtrails seem to be created at altitudes above commercial flights.

That is because the probability of a contrail being produced at a higher altitude is much greater.

Next, please.

The distinct coloration which appears in these trails is due to the chemical composition of the spray material.

This theory is nothing but conjecture on the part of the photographer, although he is partially correct.

The photographer of this particular photo states it was taken when the plane and sun were almost in alignment. In fact, this would have been required in order to show this effect. I submit to you, however, that this is not abnormal at all. Ice crystals when viewed in alignment with bright light will show this sort of coloration.

It's an interesting phenomena of much study called a halo. With proper viewing techniques, these halos can commonly be seen encircling the sun or moon.

Halos (as seen at left) form when light from the sun or moon is refracted by ice crystals associated with thin, high-level clouds. Generally you will get a 22 degree halo which is a ring of light 22 degrees from the light source. Although several different halo locations are possible, this is the most common type of halo observed. It is formed by the light refracting through hexagonal ice crystals with diameters less than 20.5 micrometers.

If we had a larger picture of the contrails in question, I would wager that the trail on the other side of the sun would have the same coloration (albeit in reverse rainbow color order). It's the other side of the 22 degree halo.

Saying that these colors must be caused by some weird chemical is a complete guess and shows a real lack of research, intentional or otherwise, on the photographers part.

Some photos show the chemical spray being turned off and then back on again.

Ah yes. These rare photos are a favorite among the believers.

The photo shown here obviously proves that the Neanderthals running this particular spraying operation have mistakenly turned off the spray for a few moments and then turned it back on. Gee. Those chemical spray teams are really getting sloppy with their super-secret population spraying missions. Can you believe the government has hired a bunch of bumbling idiots to perform their top secret operations?

Ok. Let's assume we believe this theory for a moment.

Now tell me why does the contrail stop completely? Has the aircraft also stopped it's engines, because they would still be creating a trail also.

"At high altitudes", giusto?

I don't see any discrepancy in the flight path of the aircraft showing that they powered down the engines and lost altitude. So they must have kept the engines on. Besides, aircraft engines do not just turn off and on at the flick of a switch, they require warm up and cool down procedures, etc.

Quindi?

It is much more likely that the plane has simply passed through a pocket of air where contrails will not form well. The air could be too warm or too dry to form the ice crystals which make a contrail visible. I'll leave it at that and let you be the judge.

Immagino che premere il magico bottone "at low altitudes" sia troppo difficile.

There are methods to take pictures using the corona of the sun which show the chemical particles in the air.

Yeah. Nice try.

Firstly I'd like to address a little nit pick. The corona of the Sun can only be seen well in visible light from the earth during a total solar eclipse of the Sun by the Moon. This is because it is millions of times fainter than the photosphere (the visible surface of the Sun). What is being viewed here is still the Sun's photosphere, not the corona.

Secondly, the size of the particles that the chemical chasers are looking for are reported to be on the several micron to sub-micron scale. This is reported by the chemical chasers themselves, I might add.

If that is true, then do you really think that a VHS video camera is going to pick them up on film? I don't care if you view them by standing in the sun's corona, a VHS camera is not going to pick them up. For that matter a Betacam SP won't do the trick.

Let's consider that a micron is one thousandth of a millimeter in length. No commercially available video camera is going to pick up particles that size. Their piddley 40x magnification just isn't going to cut it.

So what are we viewing? It should come as no surprise that it is more likely boring old dust, pollen, or other natural particles. These sorts of particles permeate the air at all times, even when there is little wind to kick them up. Viewing the particles by placing a video camera just within the shade of a rooftop (or using the beam of a high powered flashlight as shown here) allows them to be much more visible than when viewed by the unaided eye alone. When did you last hold a flashlight in front of you and NOT see lots of junk in the air?

These results could be achieved anywhere, let alone in Santa Fee where these photos were taken. Santa Fe is, of course, a very dusty area, so it still makes perfect sense.

By using a black light you can see the spray particles all over your clothing!

This is a fairly new claim, and I have yet to see any hard evidence of this.

I'll bet those of you who have been in the presence of black lights before can already attest to one fact. Everything looks like it's covered with little particles under a black light.

Oh well, I guess it's no real surprise that this was turned into a "proof" of chemtrail activity. When you're grasping at straws like this, the substance doesn't really matter anymore.

I am humbled by this truly brilliant piece of deductive reasoning.

As you can see by these graphics found on a believer's website, there is a very distinct connection between the number of contrails reported over a particular area and the population density of that area.

I'm stunned! That is absolutely incredible! It's almost as if with more overhead flights and people to look at the sky on any given day, you get more sightings of contrails in that area. What an unbelievable piece of evidence! WOW!

Now turning sarcasm mode off...

Of course what the believer is trying to show is that the spraying is more prolific where there are more people. Unfortunately this little factoid really only shows a lack of ability to look past one's own nose and see other possible answers.

The lesson here is twofold. One: don't jump to conclusions, and two: statistics can prove anything.

The chemicals are mind control substances.

Yes master. You are correct. I am at your command.

Oops. That sarcasm mode got turned on again.

By the way, there is no such thing as mind a control drug. The media is probably the most powerful mind control "substance" ever devised. Drugs have a looooong way to go.

Contrails may be seeding clouds for weather control.

It's true that contrails may help in the formation of cirrus clouds which may make the Earth a little bit cooler or possibly create rain where it is needed, but I still fail to see what the government is getting out of this. Seems like an awfully expensive way to air condition.

The government is tring to keep the people in line by creating chemtrails which in turn form grey skies.

This is an interesting theory based on the fact that certain colors can alter peoples moods. Have you ever noticed that fast food restaurants use orange and other bright colors? That's because these colors help stimulate the appetite. Grey is a depressing color. Causing grey skies everywhere and blocking out sunshine (something most people instinctually crave) would certainly depress folks and lower their resistance to being pushed around by government bigwigs.

This type of emotional warfare is very odd, especially when it is purportedly being waged by the government on its own people. How does this help the government? Perhaps in another country where there has never been freedom of speech, religion, etc that we enjoy here in the USA, this would be helpful. But here? No way. This would cause more problems than solutions.

Suppressing the people of a third world country in this way might work because they may be used to it and don't have the rights to do anything about it. In the USA, you'd just get a lot of backlash from angry Americans who don't like what the government is doing.

Come per la guerra in Iraq!

Ironically, this is exactly what is happening, thanks to chemtrail conspiracy believers who are rising up rather than being beaten down. Thus this proof disproves itself.

The other problem here is that this government control method is purely in the minds of the few believers. Were the government actually creating grey skies to bring down the people, you can be damned sure there would be a vastly larger sized group of Americans fighting the powers that be to have the spraying stopped. In short, such a plan, although clever, wouldn't work.

I get sick right after a spraying run by the planes!

Bummer.

I don't know what to say about this. Maybe it's psychosomatic and you ought to see a psychologist.

We have polluted the ozone layer to the point of severe damage. The government is trying a massive "secret" cleanup before it's too late.

Bwa ha ha haa haaa!

You have got to be joking! That is rich.

Do you have any idea how ludicrous it sounds to propose that humans have any short term ability to change the atmosphere?

Ma come, ci sono i gas serra del global warming...

The troposphere (where all the weather on Earth takes place) is roughly 500 million cubic kilometers of air. Not feet or meters, but kilometers. We're talking about the equivalent of a tunnel of air one kilometer square that could stretch to the sun ... three times over. It is enormously huge.

Since the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution circa 1870, through constant global burning of fossil fuels, humanity has raised the amount of CO2 in the air by only about 100 parts per million. This includes billions of people driving cars, industrial pollution, and even naturally occurring forest fires. Spraying chemicals from intermittent planes would take hundreds of years, if not thousands, to create even the slightest detectable change in the atmosphere.

I guess you should stop paying your taxes, because this government "cleanup" mission is the most ill-conceived operation in history.
The government is spraying the public with toxins and viruses. People are getting sick.

Claims such as these range from the government spraying cities with everything from poisons to engineered HIV/AIDS viruses.

Now I ask you ... why exactly would the government do this? Seriously. Why would the government want to kill it's own people? Why?

Idea...

Please explain this to me. Remember, it's the people that keep the government alive, so if you kill off your supporters, you'll die too.

While you're at it, tell me how it is that the only evidences ever found of a huge government spraying campaign which uses commercial planes in commercial airspace and public airports are the vague photos shown above. I've not heard of any whistle blowers or anyone else at all coming forward regarding this potentially huge and nationally harmful conspiracy.

Don't you think that the folks setting up the spraying mechanisms (which have never been seen) on the planes have families that would be affected by the spray? Why would they be willing to poison themselves and their families?

Have you really thought this through? I don't think so.

I think the theory that the government is secretly (albeit not very) spraying an unsuspecting public with toxins or mind control chemicals is just plain wrong.

There are no such things as mind control drugs, and no one can tell me what the government would have to gain by making people sick.

If people are getting sick, it's not from something raining down from the heavens, it's probably from something in the water table.

In short, you're looking in the wrong direction - try down instead.

Questo personaggio ha messo insieme un cumulo impressionante di boiate, poi si è lamentato perché nel mucchio ha trovato (appunto) boiate e con ciò ha dimostrato tutto. Idea... proviamo ad aprire tutti i giornali del mondo, cercando le imprese dei vari governi, e soprattutto dei nostri amici federali.

28/05/2005: Folly or not, theories aim to reduce hurricanes

Here's one way to grasp the breadth and fury of a major hurricane: Such a storm releases as much energy in a single hour as the detonation of 20 large nuclear weapons.

Though it's difficult to imagine anyone crazy enough to try to modify the impact of a nuclear blast, scores of dreamers, and at one time the federal government, have sought to weaken hurricanes or steer them away from populated areas. It will surprise few that these proposals, including cloud seeding and, yes, even nuking a storm, have been fruitless, some even folly.

"Most of these schemes just don't consider the proper size and strength of a storm," said Colorado State professor William Gray, the famed hurricane forecaster with nearly half a century in the tropical cyclone business. "An idea may sound good, but to implement it in the broad context of a storm just won't work."

Given its past failures, the federal government views weather modification with disdain, providing virtually no research funding.

The conventional wisdom is no different this year, with hurricane season set to begin Wednesday.

Yet a small group of scientists thinks that one day technology will advance far enough to tame monstrous storms.

And new research by a Massachusetts scientist suggests it may not be as hard as thought.

Turning chaos to calm

Ross Hoffman, now a principal scientist at Atmospheric and Environmental Research in Lexington, Mass., has dreamed of controlling hurricanes for 30 years. As a graduate student, his ideas of capitalizing on the unpredictable nature of weather were rejected.

But now, with better computers, Hoffman and his colleagues have begun to test these ideas, and it turns out they may have some merit.

A small change in one part of the world can lead, in a domino-like effect, to drastic changes elsewhere. It's the notion that a butterfly flapping its wings in Japan can cause a tornado in Oklahoma. This chaotic phenomenon is the primary reason long-term forecasts are so unreliable.

Hoffman wants to turn chaos theory into an asset with hurricanes. If small changes can have large consequences, he wondered, then might small tweaks in temperature or winds near hurricanes have some measurable effect on the path or strength of large storms?

Idea. Vuoi vedere che funziona anche al contrario?

Using computer models to simulate two destructive hurricanes of 1992, Iniki and Andrew, Hoffman's team essentially asked what were the smallest changes needed to significantly affect the storms.

They found that only slight changes to humidity and temperature, one or two degrees Fahrenheit, were needed to steer Iniki on a path 60 miles west of Kauai, where it would have caused far less damage.

For Andrew, which at one point reached Category 5 strength, modifying the temperature by a few degrees at the storm's eye reduced its intensity. Hoffman's manipulation was performed from a model in which Andrew was out to sea and weaker, and reduced its intensity from Category 3 to Category 1.

Waiting on technology

The problem is that technology capable of even small temperature changes in large storms, such as orbital power stations feeding on solar energy, does not yet exist. And there are no plans to build anything like it soon.

"Some of my colleagues say I'm doing science fiction, not science," Hoffman said. "They tell me I'll never be able to effect changes in the atmosphere like this. But who knows what kind of technological changes we're going to make in the next 30 years? We really need to be thinking about this now."

Despite his initially promising results, Hoffman hasn't been able to continue his research with more sophisticated computer models and further tests. The reason is funding.

"Our research focus is on learning more about the dynamics of a hurricane so we can better forecast them," said Frank Lepore, of the National Hurricane Center. "Then we might be in a better position to demonstrate whether any modification efforts had any effect."

Giant sponge to super ice

If scientists were able to heat the eye of a storm now, and it veered off its path from Houston to South Texas, who could say what caused the hurricane to turn? As demonstrated by Hurricane Charley, which made a last-minute right turn and missed Tampa Bay last year, storms often do the unexpected.

When asked about weather modification, Lepore just sighs. Clearly, he's heard the question before.

The last craze involved a super-sponge-like substance called Dyn-O-Gel, promoted by Florida-based Dyn-O-Mat a few years ago as the answer to dampening hurricanes. The biodegradable material absorbed thousands of times its weight in water. Preliminary tests by the National Hurricane Center suggested it would require 377 sorties every half hour by heavy-lift airplanes that can carry 100-ton payloads to keep a hurricane in a weakened state. That would be good for Dyn-O-Mat's business, to be sure.

Ricordate il Dyn-O-Gel?

"But even if the stuff works as well as they say it would, that's just not a practical solution," Lepore said.

The government did get serious about hurricane modification in 1962, when it spent millions of dollars on Project Stormfury.

The key idea involved seeding clouds near the hurricane's eye with silver iodide.

This chemical affects so-called supercooled water, a state in which water remains liquid at temperatures below freezing. Silver iodide initiates a reaction in which this supercooled water in a hurricane's clouds turns to ice, which gives off energy in the form of heat. This energy loss, scientists thought, would weaken the center of storms.

The experiments had mixed results, and the Stormfury scientists could never prove their interventions worked.

End of involvement

Scientists realized the real problem after Stormfury ended in 1983, discovering that clouds within hurricanes already contained plentiful natural ice, an even more effective catalyst than silver iodide at freezing supercooled water.

This effectively ended the government's involvement with hurricane-modification research and has colored attitudes of atmospheric scientists ever since, said Moshe Alamaro, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.

Yet, he says forward-thinking projects such as Hoffman's deserve funding.

Even though Stormfury was a bust, it yielded a far greater understanding of how hurricanes work and greatly improved the ability of forecasters to predict their paths and intensities, Alamaro said.

"But for the long term, we need to fund some people to do some thinking about futuristic ideas. This kind of research always pays off, whether you achieve your stated goal or not."

When it comes to hurricane manipulation, there are also political concerns.

The United Nations banned weather modification as a weapon of mass destruction in the late 1970s.

E per quale motivo avrebbero dovuto, visto che non funziona?

During Project Stormfury, Mexico and other nations complained that their farmers might be deprived of rain. And if a storm were headed toward Texas, where would it be sent? Louisiana? Mexico?

Hoffman says these are legitimate questions, and discussion to address them should begin now, rather then later when technology matures.

Gray's own idea

Gray thinks technology could mature sooner rather than later, especially after a few more hurricane seasons like 2004, which could galvanize the public's will to do something about the problem.

Like others who spend their days thinking about tropical storms, Gray has his own hurricane-modification theory.

He envisions sending three or four ships to the periphery of an intense storm to burn petroleum products to create carbon black, which absorbs an incredible amount of heat.

This heat would draw energy away from the storm's center, diffusing its strength.

This could be done, he said, for about $10 million per storm.

Environmentally, he said, it would create no more emissions than a single day of automobile traffic in Los Angeles.

And also like a lot of other people with grand ideas about storm modification, Gray thinks his solution is the best.

"None of the other ideas are practical," he said. "None of them seem to have any merit except mine. How do you like that for modesty?"

01/06/2005: Hurricane Killer?

Peter Cordani isn't a meteorologist or even a weather aficionado. He's just a Florida CEO sick of seeing his state pounded by hurricanes.

As head honcho at Dyn-O-Mat, a maker of environmental absorbents, it dawned on Cordani about five years ago that his company's patented Dyn-O-Gel might have the power to take the punch out of hurricanes.

His first true test of the theory came in July 2001, when the company used a B-57 bomber to attack a thunderclap with the super absorbent polymer in the waters off Palm Beach. The storm evaporated completely from Doppler radar, according to Cordani.

"It was an incredible moment," he said.

Bolstered by the success of the field test, Cordani gathered a team of scientists and investors, plus a convoy of 747 jetliners from Evergreen Aviation in Colorado, for the mother of all trials.

The group plans to tackle a tropical storm this hurricane season, which begins today. Cordani says that attacking a pie-shaped sliver of a hurricane as it forms over water could slow the storm down by 15 to 20 mph, causing the winds to turn on themselves.

"We're not going to get rid of the storm," he said. "There will still be heavy rain. We're just trying to take the punch out of it."

The idea of using weather modification techniques to take the fury out of hurricanes and tornadoes isn't new. From 1962 until 1983, the National Weather Service undertook an ambitious experiment known as Project Stormfury."

The project was based on a theory called "cloud seeding," a process of using silver iodide to stimulate precipitation in clouds. In Project Stormfury, the idea was that seeding near the eye of the hurricane would force the wall to reform and reduce the strongest winds.

Scientists attempted to modify four hurricanes on eight different days during the experiment. On four of the eight days, wind speeds decreased by 10 percent to 30 percent. On four other days, nothing happened.

In the end, the government suspended the program after scientists could offer no proof that the storms slowed down due to the interference of man. Since then, there has been no federal funding for hurricane modification research.

Cordani's fighting to change that. "Florida got hit with billions in property damages last year," he said. "What's it going to mean to the government to spend $100 million on research to fight that damage next time around?"

But the National Weather Service isn't impressed with Dyn-O-Mat's claims. Neither was the National Hurricane Center, which determined it would require nearly 400 planes with 100-ton payloads to harness the power of a hurricane.

Cordani counters that it would only take 10 jetliners carrying 200,000 pounds of Dyn-O-Gel to take the bite out of a massive storm. And he argues that there's nothing for the government to lose by working with him on research.

He says Dyn-O-Gel is non-toxic and biodegradable. It falls into the water as gel after absorbing massive amounts of precipitation from a storm. He claims his company's super absorbent polymer can hold up to 3,000 times its weight in liquid.

After the B-57 bomber experiment in 2001, television stations in Palm Beach reported finding a green gel washing up on the beaches in the area. Reports of the gooey substance in the water came from as far away as Mexico.

But Cordani swears the stuff is safe. "I know for a fact there's more poison in French fries than my product," he said.

Dyn-O-Mat is based in Jupiter, Fla., an area that got pummeled by three out of the four hurricanes to hit the state last year. Some of the company's buildings were damaged and several employees lost their homes.

"I don't think there's a naysayer in Florida doesn't want research done on this project," Cordani said.

28/05/2005: Forecast is unpredictability

I admit it, I'm a wisenheimer, especially when it comes to the subject of weather forecasting.

I once began a story by saying: "Orange County will receive heavy rain tomorrow, unless it doesn't. In which case, things will be dry."

I was mocking a TV forecaster who had given wildly contradictory information in the same newscast. Apparently, he couldn't bring himself to simply say, "To be honest with you, I'm not sure what's going to happen."

People appreciate candor. But they don't often get it from forecasters, even during confusing periods like the past nine months. Santa Ana received 28.14 inches of rain, which ranks this as the city's fourth-wettest rainy season on record.

Forecasters have explained the dynamics of how one storm after another spiraled into Southern California. But I don't recall hearing anyone give a plausible scientific explanation of why we've gotten drenched during a non-El Niño year. Instead, forecasters - and the public - have seemed obsessed with whether we'll break the rainfall record by the time the season ends on June 30 (we won't).

That didn't stop me from seeking insight from Bill Patzert, a respected climatologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Bill's also got a bit of the wisenheimer in him, so our conversation was as entertaining as it was informative.

Q. I got a call from a guy who wanted to know whether it's possible to seed the clouds and produce a storm that would be big enough to make this the rainiest season on record. That's nutty. But is it doable?

A. Cloud seeding can produce rain - if there are clouds to seed. In Orange County, you mostly get morning low clouds that don't have enough moisture to seed. And if you seeded clouds and actually produced rain, would Riverside and San Bernardino sue you for stealing their rain?

Q. Sue? The history of water wars in California involves gunfire. But that's another story. Orange County's three rainiest seasons all occurred during a moderate to strong El Niño. That didn't happen this time around. What's up?

A. We're usually influenced by El Niño, which tends to bring more rain, or La Niña, which brings less. This winter, we didn't get either. We got La Nada, as I call it. This lack of climate structure made our weather volatile - and hard to predict.

The winter storms that usually go into Seattle came to Southern California. We received a lot of cut-off lows - storms that break off a larger low-pressure system. Many of these cut-off lows slowed down, hung offshore and picked up more moisture. So the storms were stronger when they finally came in. We could see this with the weather satellites, which have revolutionized forecasting.

Q. Revolutionized? There were a lot of blown forecasts this winter, weren't there?

A. Last summer I predicted that we'd have a continuation of the drought. My mother kept calling and saying, "You said there would be a drought, but we're floating away." The drought did continue across most of the West. But there were lots of storms in Southern California. And storms can be very localized. On May 5th, you got more than one inch of rain in parts of Orange County. But USC only got 0.01 inch.

Q. It's good to know we outdid USC in something. But more to the point, people got little notice about how intense that storm would be in places. Does that mean, basically, that I shouldn't believe anything forecasters say?

A. Most people only remember when a forecast is wrong. But I can remember, especially this season, when the National Weather Service was correct. With technology such as Doppler weather radar and higher-resolution satellite imagery, we are getting much better at observing the atmosphere.

The climate models still need refinement and adjustments in many areas. But the weather service is getting better, especially with severe weather like this season in Southern California.

Q. OK, climatology man. What comes next? More La Nada? La Niña? El Niño? El Dorado?

A. We always go about six months without rain through the spring and summer. That's a no-brainer. And there is neither a strong El Niño or La Niña taking shape. It looks like La Nada; things are going to be hard to predict. But all that rain we had led to the growth of vegetation that's now turning brown. We could have a big wildfire season.

Q. OK, but are you going to be able to go on living knowing that this won't turn out to be the rainiest season on record?

A. I'll hang in there. I have to. There's no rest for the weary record-seeker of JPL.

21/06/2005: Water solvable

Some solutions to water shortage go to extremes
By Anne Minard and Mitch Tobin
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Evviva.

With a city water plan that looks ahead 50 years and a state groundwater budget that accounts for the next century, we're looking to a wet future. Tucson is widely recognized for its conservation efforts - we're using less water than we have in the past. But all of the planning and saving is designed for one thing: to keep Arizona growing. Pima County's population is expected to nearly double by the middle of the century. By then, Tucson Water predicts its demand will double as well, by an extra 111 million gallons a day. To get all that water, in the short run, we'll likely drink treated waste water. A bit longer term, we'll buy or lease water from farmers and tribes. But what happens after that?

After the last person learns to turn off the water while brushing his teeth, after we all master the art of the quick shower, after we've squeezed all the moisture we can from the state's farms, tribes and water treatment plants, what then?

Some of the most futuristic ideas out there are perfectly sensible. Some can only be described as downright wacky. Logical or loopy, they're all potential solutions to a need for water that can only grow - along with the thirst of our cities.
[...]
Cloud seeding - encouraging rain by dropping tiny particles into clouds - is a promising way to increase the water in the Colorado River, the state's water experts say.

Cloud seeding is done on small scales in Colorado and Utah. But the idea of enhancing the snowpack in central Colorado's highlands - at a scale that could increase the Colorado's flow by 10 percent to 15 percent - hasn't been seriously discussed for decades. Back then, the costs of cloud seeding were estimated at up to $15 million, with returns of about 10 times that much through power generation and new water uses.

Downstream drying from cloud seeding, a concern of critics for decades, is unlikely, experts say.

But ski towns would spend more time digging out cars and driveways even as they enjoy the extra powder on the runs.

19/06/2005: Montanans give thought to Social Security stance

The news is beginning to inform the public that the state Legislature authorized $9 million from state water development funds to begin a five-year experiment to see if cloud seeding can increase snowfall. Have they so soon forgotten when cloud seeding was experimented with? Around the early 1970s or late 1960s, colleges, etc. were experimenting with cloud seeding. A violent storm of rain, hail, etc., hit the Black Hills area, washing away cars and causing havoc. Immediately, the cloud seeding parties disclaimed any responsibility for the tragedy.

Before cloud seeding is again attempted, the fiasco in the Black Hills should be analyzed. Perhaps the effects of cloud seeding do not justify the means.

16/06/2005: Rocky Mountain News

Federal water officials, hoping to break a seven-state impasse over a new drought plan for the Colorado River, will launch the first round of public meetings in Utah and Nevada next month on what such a plan should contain. Late last year, federal officials warned the states that if they couldn't agree on a drought plan, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation would do it for them. "The drought has placed a lot of pressure on everybody," Bob Johnson, director of the Lower Colorado Region at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, said Wednesday. "Now decisions have to be made." U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton has said she wants the water-sharing agreement finished by the end of 2007.
[...]
Last week, at a University of Colorado conference on the river, several Western water officials said the only way to break the deadlock is to find new water supplies, using such techniques as cloud seeding to produce more snow or desalination plants on the West Coast.

11/06/2005: Do you know a rainmaker?

The rains have arrived on the prairie and we are grateful. Did a rainmaker cause them? Rainmaker is a funny word in our society. In business it usually means someone who causes money to "rain" on the company. Sometimes people use it to identify the ancient pageants associated with the start of the local rainy season or "monsoon". As near as I can tell, we westerners misapplied the term rainmaker to ancient cultures which were not trying to make rain, but were asking for some rain or expressing gratitude for the end of the dry season. Every farmer and rancher can relate to that. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries westerners got the idea that loud noise caused rain because thunder was heard before rains. Others thought hanging black snakes in trees would cause rain. All you needed was a drought and some cash and a rainmaker and his cannon would show up to save the day. Only the technology has changed.

People still dabble in rainmaking, but the modern term is "weather modification". During the recent drought, interest in such things as cloud seeding became a topic of discussion.

I have never seen any proof that a person can control the weather, although I know a man who claims his father could make rain. When a cloud is about ready to rain or hail, someone can cause some water to fall a little early and get moisture that would have fallen on his neighbor.

Maybe people can modify weather a little bit, but to control it - absolutely not.

The modern rainmakers charge more than the old ones. We give hundreds of millions of dollars to people who claim they have enough knowledge and power (or soon will) to control elements of the "climate" (weather with no specific location or time).

Those who think people are in control of the climate urge us to take action to prevent global warming before it is "too late". I can't buy it.

Maybe I am too much like the ancient peoples. I have seen the vastness of the land and sky and the unimaginable powers that turn the wheels of nature. It is impossible for my mind to look at those wonders and believe a puny little thing like a person can control it.

Besides that, everything we know about natural systems tells us change is inevitable and nature has a countermeasure for everything that happens to preserve balance. We just don't know it.

On the prairie we know enough about it if we "have enough sense to come in out of the rain."

I give the climatologists this, they know how to make it rain money. So, they are true rainmakers, even if they can't make it rain.

The only way to guarantee failure is to not try.

08/06/2005: Squeezing more water from Arizona's sky

The quest to meet Arizona's growing water needs has resurrected interest in cloud seeding, recreational reservoirs in the desert and even replacing vast areas of trees with grass.

The ideas are not new. The federal government studied cloud seeding in the 1960s and 1970s. Congress approved a 600-acre reservoir - a little more than twice the size of Patagonia Lake - west of Tucson in the mid-1990s that was never built.

Sottolineo federal government.

Although Arizona's drought is over - at least for now - the state's junior status among the recipients of Colorado River water is a key motivator.

If there is a shortage along the Colorado, it first reduces Arizona's allocation, said David "Sid" Wilson, general manager of the Central Arizona Project.

"If and when the drought gets deep enough, Arizona loses every bit of its 1.5 million acre-foot supply before California loses a drop," Wilson said.

"That's the supply that Tucson and Marana and Oro Valley are counting on for the future. That's the supply that Phoenix and Scottsdale and Glendale and Peoria are counting on for the future, and that could be lost."

So scientists, Arizona water officials and federal lawmakers are pushing for more weather modification studies, replacing trees with grass and restarting a Yuma desalination plant.

Together these methods could add 2.5 million acre-feet, or 815 billion gallons, of water - enough for about 30 million people - to the Colorado River each year, said Carol Zimmerman, a Pima County representative on the Central Arizona Project board.

No clear evidence

The jury is still out on the effectiveness of cloud seeding, or spraying particles into clouds to promote snow or rain. Little research has been done in recent years.

Mi prendi per il culo, vero?

The federal Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation studied weather modification in the 1960s and 1970s, public affairs officer Bob Walsh said.

"There was potential in that science, but no one ever came up with a definitive answer on whether it was effective," Walsh said.

Non mi dire?

The picture is much the same today. A 2003 weather modification report from the National Academy of Sciences identifies a Catch-22: Because there have been few studies there is little evidence it is reliable and effective, and because there is little evidence of its effectiveness, the federal government has been reluctant to fund further study.

Some states are moving forward despite the lack of proof.

The Colorado Water Conservation Board will spend $60,000 this year on small-scale cloud-seeding projects.

In Utah, where cloud seeding has been going strong since 1974, the state and local water districts will spend about $400,000 this year on four projects. None is on the Colorado River, but all have spurred increased precipitation. Some seeded areas got 20 percent more snow during seeding, according to the state's Department of Natural Resources.

The Colorado Water Conservation Board studied environmental impact and found no evidence of ill effects or decreased precipitation downwind from cloud-seeding operations.

But some detractors argue that even slight changes in precipitation could have dramatic impact on ecosystems.

Non vi sembra di cogliere un certo trend?

Calls for action

The 2003 National Academy of Sciences report recommends more weather modification research. The academy produced similar reports in 1964, 1966 and 1973.

Questa è la National Academy of Sciences.

The report calls for a national program to study weather modification, including coaxing more snow and rain from our skies, to find water for a thirsty nation and avert weather disasters.

"Sustainable use of atmospheric water resources and mitigation of the risks posed by hazardous weather are important goals that deserve to be addressed through a sustained research effort," the committee concluded.

To that end, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, introduced a bill in March that would create the Weather Modification Operations and Research Board.

Poi venite a raccontarmi che non esiste neanche quella, mi raccomando.

Members would include representatives of federal agencies that deal with atmospheric science, a representative from a higher education or research institution and a representative of a state that promotes weather modification. The panel, under the Department of Commerce, would be funded with about $10 million per year through 2014.

[...]

CLOUD SEEDING

* Cloud seeding is the process of putting particles, usually silver iodide, into clouds to promote precipitation. The silver iodide prompts droplets of water to condense into ice, which falls as rain or snow.

* Utah will spend $400,000 this year on four cloud-seeding projects aimed at increasing snowfall. Seeding has sparked up to 20 percent more snow in some areas. Colorado and Nevada are seeding clouds on a smaller scale.

* Scientists disagree on whether cloud seeding is effective. Because there have been few studies, there is little evidence it works. Because there is little evidence, the federal government is reluctant to fund large-scale studies. The National Academy of Sciences urges further research.

06/06/2005: Govt to be asked to start cloud seeding

Gilgandra Shire Council, in the central west of New South Wales, wants the State Government to start a cloud seeding program over the inland. A motion from Gilgandra will go to tomorrow's shires association annual conference in Sydney. General manager Paul Mann says the success of last year's cloud seeding trial in the Snowy Mountains could be used to increase rainfall in western NSW. "The CSIRO and others have developed ways of being able to spray into clouds chemicals that will convert clouds into rainfall - you often get clouds going across and no rainfall, but with cloud seeding, with the chemical reactions, as I understand it, helps make rain," he said.

05/06/2005: Drip by drip: State water plan leans heavily on conservation to meet needs

Local river advocate Denver Nelson was also uncertain about the new focus on conservation.

"I guess I'm a little cynical about treating everything with water conservation," he said, "because eventually you are going to run out of water. Ultimately, you'll have to deal with limiting population growth and new development."

Questo dev'essere un amico dei nostri amici di sempre.

The plan does deal with other methods of balancing supply and demand, including recycling municipal water, new storage through the state and federal partnership CALFED, desalination, improved water conveyance and even precipitation enhancement -- read, cloud seeding.

04/06/2005: Boulder firm given cloud-seeding job

Cheyenne - Wyoming's state Water Development Commission moved along a $1.9 million contract for cloud seeding in Wyoming in hopes of increasing water supplies. The contract was awarded Thursday to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research at Boulder for cloud-seeding work from 2005 to 2011 in the Wind River Mountains and in the vicinity of the Medicine Bow, Snowy and Sierra Madre mountain ranges.

The American Meteorological Society estimates that a well-conducted winter weather modification program can result in about a 10 percent increase in precipitation. The Legislature appropriated $8.8 million for a five-year weather modification pilot study.

"The real test will be if there's more snow on the mountains," said Rep. Owen Petersen, R-Mountain View, a member of the Legislature's Select Water Committee. The testing involves dispersing silver iodide into the clouds from aircraft or ground-based burners to speed up ice formation within the clouds.

25/04/2005: How Things Work: Cloud Seeding

Here in Pittsburgh, we’re very familiar with clouds. During the winter months, Pittsburgh averages over 70 percent daily cloud cover. We aren’t strangers of rain, either: The Three Rivers have crested over 30 feet more than 25 times since charting began in the 1760s. With this abundance of rain, it’s hard to imagine not having enough. But what if you were a farmer, your livelihood dependent on the rainfall of your region? What if you were plagued by droughts? Once upon a time, you might have been tempted to perform a rain dance. Today, we need no rain dance: We can make our own rain. Are the X-Men real? Does Storm rent out her rain-making services to the highest bidder? No, we’ve got technology. Here’s how things work:

This technology, known as cloud seeding, has been around since 1946. It was then that Vincent Schaefer of General Electric Labs performed the first experiments in man-made weather atop Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. Schaefer observed cloud formation atop the mountain and tried many times to reproduce the effect within a freezer box in his laboratory. Previous theorists had proposed that precipitation occurred when super-cooled water high in the clouds accumulated around tiny particles of dust. While this is true, Schaefer was unable to reproduce the effect in his laboratory, even after the addition of all sorts of chemicals. One day, however, he tried adding a sample of dry ice. This resulted in the instant formation of a miniature snow storm in the freezer box! It was discovered that the very low temperature of the dry ice caused ambient moisture in the air to instantly crystallize. What potential did this hold?

The basic theory of cloud seeding revolves around increasing the number of ice nuclei in the upper levels of clouds. When a sufficient number of these nuclei are present in a cloud, they become ice crystals, which then, grow larger and fall. The ice crystals melt into rain as they reach warmer air at lower altitudes. The majority of clouds don’t contain enough of these ice nuclei to form precipitation. By artificially increasing their numbers — ‘seeding’ them — rain can sometimes be induced.

Today, several methods exist to artificially produce precipitation from existing clouds. As with Schaefer’s early experiments, dry ice can be seeded into clouds. This is often done from airplanes, so the upper levels of the clouds are cooled to near minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit — the temperature at which ice nuclei form spontaneously.

Cloud seeding can also be completed with hygroscopic chemicals — a fancy term for substances that attract water. The most common hygroscopic materials used are salts: potassium chloride and sodium chloride, common table salt. Dispersed into a cloud from air or ground, these salts will attract water vapor to their surfaces, forming the base for ice crystal formation. Finally, a chemical known as silver iodide mimics the molecular structure of ice, tricking water molecules in the cloud to grow on it as if it were an ice nucleus itself. Silver iodide has been shown to be the most effective cloud seeding chemical.

While the potential for cloud seeding may seem boundless, there are many limitations. Unfortunately, only specific types of clouds are seedable. Cloud seeding is often limited to puffy cumulus clouds or layered stratus clouds. On top of this, very specific conditions must exist within these clouds for seeding to actually produce precipitation: Specific temperature, low wind speeds, tall enough clouds, and the presence of enough water vapor are all necessary for seeding to be successful. This complex set of ever-changing variables has long frustrated scientists trying to make cloud seeding economically viable. These factors are so variable, in fact, that the effectiveness of cloud seeding is hard to determine because experiments can not be repeated!

Nevertheless, large–scale experiments in cloud seeding have been attempted all around the world. The U.S. ran an interesting project from 1962 until 1982 known as Project Stormfury. For the project, planes would seed the outer walls of hurricanes in the hopes of weakening the interior of the storm. Although the seeding of four hurricanes produced observable results, they were later discounted when knowledge of hurricane phenomena increased.

Harnessing a system as complex as our atmosphere will always be difficult. The limitations of cloud seeding are reflective of this complexity. But with further development of cloud seeding, we may one day be able to control rain for the benefit of people around the world.

Altrove... in Australia...

25/06/2005: Cloud seeding provides hope for more snow

A cloud-seeding project is expected to bring extra snow to the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales this season. The State Government says when clouding-seeding was done in the area last year, it created 25 per cent more snow. The technique involves sending tiny amounts of silver iodide into winter storm clouds, and is being trialled over a 1,000 kilometre square part of the Kosciuszko National Park. The Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald, says the technology is bringing both economic and environmental benefits. "This will help the amount of snow in the mountains, which is good for the ski industry, which is important for the regional tourism industry, as well as creating more water for electricity generation and irrigation," he said. "It's environmentally sound because more snow pack will help the long-term survival of a number of endangered animals and plants."

25/06/2005: Cloud seeding generates more snow

A CLOUD seeding trial in the NSW Snowy Mountains boosted snowfall by 25 per cent in its first year, initial research shows. NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said samples taken from the trial area showed snowfall increased well above the project's 10 per cent target. But he said more scientific evidence was needed over several seasons to verify the results. Launching the second season of Snowy Hydro's six-year project, Mr Macdonald said the extra snow generated this year could create up to 70 gigalitres when the snow melts in spring, equalling 70,000 Olympic sized swimming pools. "We could have an innovative new tool to help reverse declining snow levels, increase water flow and boost tourism," Mr Macdonald said in a statement. Cloud seeding is carried out during winters storm and targets alpine areas where small amounts of silver iodine particles are injected into clouds to crystallise and produce snow. If successful, cloud seeding could help offset the impact of global warming, Mr Macdonald said.

Farmers pray first drops will herald a downpour

The forecast is for rain over most areas west of the Great Divide today. Sydney could also see some afternoon rain. Ski resorts were optimistically eyeing the clouds circling the southern ranges yesterday on the eve of their opening weekend, but the weather bureau predicted they were more likely to bring rain than snow. There have been no dumps this season, but Chris Webb, a forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, said another cold front due next week could bring snow to the skifields. Last year was the first time Snowy Hydro scientists experimented with cloud seeding to increase snowfalls, a process that will continue this year. In New Zealand, Mount Hutt is open and Coronet Peak is expected to open today. Allister Gorman, a forecaster at the New Zealand weather bureau, MetService, said some mountains had received falls but he expected no more for two weeks.

24/05/2005: Seeding hopes

DESPERATE Wimmera farmers afflicted by the drought are anxiously awaiting the outcome of a Federal Cabinet meeting today. Farmers are hoping for an overhaul of the Exceptional Circumstances scheme after the Prime Minister John Howard toured drought-affected areas of NSW including Wentworth near Mildura on Friday. Proposed changes include allowing easier access to Centrelink payments, increased interest rate relief and eligibility for farmers who gain less than 50 per cent of their income from agriculture. Federal Member for Mallee John Forrest said the drought would figure strongly on today's Cabinet meeting agenda. "Drought is the single most important issue of the past three years," Mr Forrest said. He said the Federal Government had contributed $1.5 billion a year in drought assistance but needed to consider the possibility of drought prevention.

Mr Forrest said he hoped the government would look at alternative solutions to drought, including cloud seeding or enhancing cloud capacity to rain. "We need to get the science associated with these projects into the public agenda," Mr Forrest said. "A lot of people say you shouldn't interfere with nature and try to make it rain, but I say I am surrounded by an enormous amount of pain in my electorate because of drought."

The Victoria Farmers Federation has issued a formal invitation to the Premier Steve Bracks and state Agriculture Minister Bob Cameron to visit the Wimmera and see first-hand the effects of the drought. Member for Lowan Hugh Delahunty said the Premier needed to meet face to face with landholders and business people to get the `real picture'. "As the season goes on things are getting tighter and tighter and people are beginning to lose confidence," Mr Delahunty said. "The state and federal governments need to stop the buck-passing between them because this just exacerbates the frustration of the people affected by drought." Spokeswoman for Mr Cameron Susan McGrady said he and Mr Bracks were considering visiting the region and were waiting on the result of today's Cabinet meeting before making an announcement.

21/05/2005: Pollution could be to blame for low rainfall

JOHN FORREST: Well it's a fairly fundamental question why we're not investing when other countries are. In seeking answers to these questions, when the situation is so dire here. So I've got enough evidence, and spent enough of taxpayers' money, to appreciate the rest of the world's onto something, and we've dropped the football.

TIM JEANES: Mr Forrest says one solution would be cloud seeding, but authorities seem reluctant to pursue it.

10/05/2005: Tight lips on budget

MEMBER for Mallee John Forrest is as much in the dark on the federal budget's content as the general public. But he told the Mail-Times on Friday he would know some of its secrets about 30 minutes before Treasurer Peter Costello delivered the budget news in Canberra at 7.30pm tomorrow. Until then he remained ignorant of promises by his government to the people of Australia for the next year. "I'll wait with bated breath just like everyone else," Mr Forrest said. "But I'm hoping for increased money for roads. "We have some huge infrastructure issues in my electorate. "When I submitted my budget wish list they told me not to ask for anything for 10 years because of the success of gaining money for the Wimmera-Mallee pipeline."

Aged care and hospitals were also important issues for the seat of Mallee which includes Mildura and Swan Hill and extends south to Horsham and west to the SA border. Mr Forrest said parliament would sit tomorrow and adjourn for the briefing and Treasurer's speech. A budget dinner would follow Mr Costello's presentation. "But I don't usually go to that," Mr Forrest said. "I'd rather plough through the budget document." He would breath a little more easily on budget night than in past years because of an allocation of money for the pipeline. The long-time pipeline crusader fought hard for the Federal Government to allocate one third cost or $167 million. It finally agreed after the State Government committed to a national water initiative.

"And now I'm looking for a new project - I think I'll pursue cloud seeding; there's been great success in the Snowy region," Mr Forrest said.

Tempo prima...

31/05/2005: Silver Iodide

50 years ago: This week in 1955

# Lothair Teetor of Hagerstown, assistant secretary of commerce for domestic affairs, spoke at commencement for Tri-State College at Angola.

# Richmond meteorologist Richard Clark returned from an 18-month stay in Spain working on a silver iodide cloud seeding (rainmaking) project.

# The Richmond School Board approved purchase of 19 residential and one business property at a cost of $203, 500 for construction of a new Starr School.

Quale parte di "1955" non avete capito?

Tutti in India!

Farmers' suicide unabated in state

HYDERABAD: Disputing the ruling Congress party's claim that suicide by farmers was been checked, the opposition Telugu Desam party claimed that on an average atleast five ended their life every day. The state government declaring a moratorium on private loans had an adverse effect, hampering credit flow to small, marginal and tenant farmers, forcing many of them to end their lives, TDP politburo member Umma Reddy Venkateswarulu and party spokesman S Venugopalachary told a press conference here on Thursday evening. The suicide rate by farmers was 151 during January, 143 in February, 148 in March and 146 in April, Venkateswarulu claimed. Even renowned agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan and noted economist Jayaram Ramesh had expressed concern over the continuing suicides by ryots, he said. The Ramachandra Reddy Commission constituted by the government had not submitted its report even after a lapse of six months and the report submitted by Jawarlal Nehru University professor Jayati Ghosh was "gathering dust", Venkateswarulu alleged.

The state government, which had denied a support price of Rs 3000 per quintal to chilli growers, was "frittering away" Rs 70 crore on cloud seeding even after Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal had told parliament that the effect of cloud seeding in bringing rain had not been established. The past experiences also showed that cloud seeding was "ineffective", he contended, alleging that not even four hours of power supply was being provided to farmers.

Jathropa crop in 40,000 ha mooted

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Monday wanted cultivation of Jatropha, the bio-diesel plant, in 40,000 hectares on a trial basis during the current year in rain shadow areas in ten districts. The chief minister reviewed the progress of cloud-seeding operations and bio-diesel plantation with officials concerned. Farmers should be encouraged to take up Jatropha plantation with drip irrigation, Reddy felt. Officials informed that the government would bear all the expenditure incurred by below poverty line (BPL) families in cultivating Jatropha, through schemes like Indira Prabha and Watershed. Also a comprehensive action plan to undertake research on Jatropha was under implementation involving premier research institutions like CRIDA, ANGRAU, NBPGRL, ICRISAT and DOR.

26/06/2005: Cloud-seeding fails

ANANTAPUR: The artificial cloud-seeding experiment was started on June 23 at Kalyandurg. There was no rain since there were no rain-bearing clouds though the plane took off at 2 in the afternoon on that day.

Similarly, the experiments were carried out over Kalyandurg, Penukonda, Narpala and Bukkarayasamudram mandals on June 24 from 2 to 3 pm. Except at Narpala, which received slight rain, there was no rain at other places. Experiments were tried on Saturday too and given up since there were no rain-bearing clouds.

25/06/2005: TD leader wants Raghuveera to resign

ANANTAPUR: Telugu Desam party district president V Hanumantaraya Chowdary today demanded the resignation of Agriculture Minister N Raghuveera Reddy owning moral responsibility for violation of model code of conduct for the second time as pointed out by the Election Commission, during Penukonda by poll. Addressing media persons at the district Telugu Desam Party office here this evening, he said it was clear that Raghuveera Reddy had violated the model code of conduct. Chowdary also questioned the Government on the Rs 23-crore deal on artificial cloud seeding when the TDP could do it for Rs 2 crore with Agni Aviation. When Raghuveera Reddy was in the Opposition he demanded Rs 2,000 compensation for crop loss and now his Government was offering only Rs 500 compensation, the TDP leader said. Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy made false promises on crop loss compensation during his "Palle Baata" programme at Madakasira. The Telugu Desam leader questioned what the eight MLAs and two MPs did for the district. The people would teach a lesson to the Congress in the ensuing municipal elections for all its false promises, the Telugu Desam Party president of the district unit added.

25/06/2005: AP govt's cloud seeding project under fire

An elusive monsoon has led the Andhra Pradesh government to spend crores of rupees on cloud seeding for second year in a row. The project involves an aircraft sprinkling chemicals like silver bromide and silver iodide to coax the clouds to fall to the ground in the form of water. However, critics allege that the project is simply a waste of money as it hardly yielded any results last year. "Last time also they spent a lot of money on it and this year also they want to spend about Rs 25 to 30 crore. Our demand is to know what is the net result," said Devender Goud, TDP leader. "Cost to benefit ratio should be worked out. What we are spending and how much we are getting out of it," Goud added.

Rain deficit districts

The exercise has begun in Agriculture Minister Raghuveera Reddy's home district of Anantapur. It will cover 10 rainfall deficit districts over the next four months. The authorities say the process has been fine-tuned based on the experience last monsoon. "There is a possibility of increasing the rainfall by five to 30 per cent. This does not mean we will bring non-existent rainfall and perform miracles. But it can increase the rain expected in an area," said Reddy. It is not just the efficacy of bringing rain that is facing the opposition heat. The TDP has alleged irregularities in the tendering process. Referring to the temple lands scam and controversy over irrigation tenders, the opposition alleges the Congress dispensation is out to make money from land, water and sky.

23/06/2005: Rains are looming, so are water cuts

Your roads might be slushy and littered with puddles, but turns out it hasn't been raining generously enough at the catchment areas.

Until Monday, just 23 mm rain was recorded at Modak Sagar lake, 14 mm at Tansa, 25 mm at Vehar, 26 mm at Tulsi, 31 mm at Upper Vaitarna and 9 mm at Bhatsa. Compared to Modak Sagar's full supply level of 163.15 metres, Monday's level was just 145.29 metres.

The situation is similarly worrisome at other lakes.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Vijaysingh Patankar said on Wednesday that while a decision on a water cut has been postponed after the rain arrived, a 20 per cent cut may indeed be imposed soon if lake levels remain low.

Corporators have also suggested that cloud seeding and artificial rainfall techniques be considered.

23/06/2005: Radar centre for cloud-seeding operations opened

ANANTAPUR: Ground Water Resources Minister N Mareppa inaugurated a radar centre, established with Rs 20 lakh for artificial cloud-seeding experiments, at the blood bank building near the JNTU Engineering College here on Tuesday.

On the occasion, Agricultural Minister N Raghuveera Reddy said people should not expect much from the artificial cloud-seeding operations. They were only experiments to bring rain to the perennially drought-hit areas, the Minister said.

Ovvio, sono solo 40 anni di esperimenti, non abbiamo ancora capito come funziona.

Reddy recalled that when he was in Opposition, he launched agitations for the radar centre. The present Lok Sabha member Ananta Venkatarami Reddy even went on hunger strike. As per the party manifesto, the Government spent Rs 20 crore last year on artificial-cloud seeding.

This year the Government called for global tenders for Rs 25.80 crore cloud-seeding, the Minister said. For this purpose, a radar centre was also opened at Anantapur. Keeping in view last year's experience, an international workshop on cloud-seeding was held in Hyderabad.

Various experts gave their opinions and accordingly the Government is conducting artificial cloud-seeding experiments this year, Reddy said.

The experiments this year would be done on warm clouds too. An expert committee consisting of 15 scholars would coordinate the activity.

The Minister said this year was crucial and the funds should not be misutilised. "We should get the results," Reddy said. Last year's experiment brought an additional 11 TMC of water.

Allaying the fears of environmentalists, Reddy said silver iodide used in the experiment would not cause any harm or damage to the environment, he added the experiment would be a permanent feature.

Panchayat Raj Minister JC Diwakar Reddy, on the occasion, said though earlier artificial cloud-seeding experiments were not so fruitful, this year we might hope for positive results. There was no funds crunch and Chief Minister Rajasekhara Reddy was ready to spend any amount for the sake of getting water, Diwakar Reddy said.

Mareppa said the artificial rain experiments would be carried out in 252 mandals of 10 drought regions of the State. MP Ananta Venkatarami Reddy recounted the measures like the irrigation projects taken up for the sake of farmers.

Agni Aviation representative for cloud-seeding experiment Sebastian said the radar would indicate weather conditions and indicate the presence of clouds in 250 km area in Anantapur district.

The plane would leave only when there are rain-bearing clouds, he said. Later, the ministers planted saplings at the radar centre.

10/06/2005: Blitzkrieg on 'Rajiv Gruhakalpa' scheme from June 20

TIRUPATI: A three-day publicity campaign for 'Rajiv Gruhakalpa' scheme will be taken up in all the municipalities of the State from June 20, Agriculture Minister N Raghuveera Reddy said. Addressing the media here on Thursday, he said an awareness programme about various aspects of the scheme would be conducted at the end of the campaign. Officials of all levels of the municipal administration would be involved in implementation of the scheme, he said. The Minister also announced that cloud-seeding operations in the State would commence on June 15 and two radar centres will be set up at Anantapur and Ibrahimpatnam for the purpose.

A proper study of the weather pattern and other details will be conducted before commencing the cloud-seeding operations, he added. To a question, Raghveera Reddy said that construction of a summer storage tank would be taken up soon to address the drinking water needs of Madanapalle division.

15/06/2005: Cloud-seeding from June 15

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Tuesday directed the officials to start cloud-seeding operations for artificial rains in 10 districts from June 15. The operations will be launched in Anantapur on June 15 and in Ranga Reddy district on June 20. The 10 rain shadow districts selected for the operations are Anantapur, Kurnool, Kadapa, Chittoor, Nellore, Prakasam, Mahbubnagar, Guntur, Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy.

CM directs officials to start cloud seeding in 10 districts

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Tuesday directed the officials to launch the cloud seeding operations for artificial rains in ten rain shadow districts from June 15. The operations would be launched in Anantapur from June 15, while in Ranga Reddy district, it would be carried out from June 20. Dr Reddy, who held a detailed review meeting with the officials in his chambers at the secretariat, said the operations should be closely monitored and day-to-day developments be updated to the government, according to an official press release here.

He also said awareness programmes should be conducted in all such villages where the cloud seeding programme had been taken up. The officials informed the Chief Minister that two radars were ready for installation at the proposed sites in Anantapur and Ibrahimpatnam.

The duration of the programme would be for 123 days to cover entire monsoon season, which would continue till October Ten. The ten rain shadow districts selected for the operations are Anantapur, Kurnool, Cuddapah, Chittoor, Nellore, Prakasam, Mahabubnagar, Guntur, Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy. Three aircrafts would be deployed for cloud seeding in these districts. The Chief Minister also agreed to the request of the officials to take up the issue of setting up a permanent radar station in Hyderabad with the planning commission. The Jawaharlal Nehru technological university here had offered to share the technical expertise for the installation of the radar station, the release added.

06/06/2005: South comfort: Rain report alright so far

This year, the rainmakers may be absent. With no global tenders and multi-crore budget from the Government, cloud seeding is not hot on the agenda. Last year during this period, an all-American crew from Weather Modification Inc was here, with a Rs. 18.2 crore budget for the project. This time, says V.M. Kulkarni, deputy secretary with the Irrigation Dept, signs are good for unaided rainfall. "We've not yet considered launching a cloud seeding project. The rains last year weregood, so most reservoirs and tanks are well off.

Tutti ovviamente ricorderanno la Weather Modification Inc. dalle puntate precedenti.

Neighbours to join hands with AP to seed clouds

HYDERABAD: The cloud-seeding operations got a new impetus with Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh joining hands to take up a regional action plan (RAP) in implementing it.

According to the Rain Shadow Area Development (RSAD) department officials, all the three states have been individually implementing cloud-seeding programmes with the help of private firms.

However, Andhra Pradesh is the first state to chalked out a comprehensive programme with the help of research institutions and organisations like Indian Meteorological Department, ISRO and those with weather modification expertise.

"Last year the state had followed the Karnataka model of experiment in cloud seeding. But from this year, steps have been taken more on scientific lines,” joint secretary (RSAD) M C Pargaien said.

According to officials, Maharashtra had implemented the programme in 2004 with an estimated cost of nearly Rs 18 crore on the lines of Karnataka. This was done with the help of an American firm on weather modification. However, this year the programme was put off by that government, the officials said.

All the three states have got mixed results after implementing the programme and there is no dependable scientific data to continue it. However, to rectify this problem, Andhra Pradesh for the first time has added the feature of collecting data including cloud formations, precipitation of both warm and cold clouds, micro physics, cloud dynamics and cloud modelling.

The feedback will help in deciding the future course of implementation of cloud-seeding programmes, RSAD officials said. The RAP was favoured as benefits of artificial rains, through cloud-seeding, could raise the inflow levels from the Krishna and Godavari river catchment areas spread in these states.

It will particularly prove beneficial to Andhra Pradesh being located on the down stream of both rivers, the RSAD officials said.

Meanwhile, the cloud-seeding programme, started on June 21 at Anantapur, has so far failed to yield any positive results as seedable clouds were not sighted.

However, experts involved in the programme expect better results soon as more seedable clouds are expected to make their rounds with the onset of monsoon.

Ancora, in giro per il mondo!

25/06/2005: PTT says it's feeling water pinch

PTT Plc, the country's largest oil-and-gas conglomerate, yesterday acknowledged that its petrochemical facilities in Rayong and Chon Buri have been affected by the water shortage along the Eastern Seaboard.

In a statement to the Stock Exchange of Thailand, PTT said it was set to cut water consumption in the area by 40% starting on Monday, but said it would maintain current production levels and compensate by getting water from other areas.

PTT's statement stands in contrast to declarations by political leaders, including Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, denying that a water shortage due to drought was affecting local manufacturers.

But on Wednesday, the Siam Cement Group, the country's largest industrial conglomerate, said it would cut its petrochemical operations at Map Ta Phut industrial estate by 40% due to water shortages.

PTT said that of its three main business operations in Rayong and Chon Buri _ gas separation, oil refining and petrochemicals _ only petrochemicals had been affected by the water shortage.

The company and its affiliates will co-operate with government agencies to cut their water consumption by 40% starting on Monday to help ease demand on area reservoirs.

To avoid production cutbacks, water would be procured from other areas, including the Chao Phraya River and desalination plants, to offset the reduction in local usage. PTT also plans to invest in new water pipelines and wells, as well as potential new investments in desalination and reverse osmosis systems, to help address medium-term concerns about water supplies in the area.

PTT's listed affiliates and subsidiaries, including National Petrochemical Plc, Thai Olefins, The Aromatics (Thailand), and Thai Oil, also notified the SET that they would maintain production in the area while also taking short-term measures to procure water from outside the region.

Drought conditions have already taken a toll on agricultural production in the first half. But in recent weeks, businesses and industrial estate officials have cautioned that low reservoir levels across the eastern provinces could force a cutback in manufacturing activity as well, particularly for industries such as petrochemicals that are large water consumers.

Meanwhile, Eastern Water Resources Development and Management Plc (East Water), the sole private supplier of industrial water along the Eastern Seaboard, yesterday reversed earlier statements and said that it could maintain water deliveries at normal levels to the area.

President Wanchai Lawwattanatrakul said in a statement that the company had notified its customers that supplies would continue as normal, but that co-operation was needed to more efficiently manage water resources.

On Wednesday, Mr Wanchai had told a briefing at the SET that the company would cut supplies by 10% to its industrial clients starting on Monday.

Ci siete tutti?

Mr Thaksin, meanwhile, reiterated his insistence that supplies at the main reservoirs serving the area were sufficient to meet industrial demand over the next two months, and that water levels were being replenished through cloud seeding programmes.

"The plants can run at full steam ahead right now without worry about the water shortage" he said.

Cherdchai Pitivatcharakul, a vice-president in charge of East Water's Map Ta Phut operations centre, said the Dok Krai and Nong Plalai reservoirs had a combined storage capacity of 33 million cubic metres.

But without new rain, East Water's allocations from the reservoirs would be completely used up by the end of July.

However, the Royal Irrigation Department has said it would allow East Water to tap into emergency storage levels, now at 13.5 million cubic metres, to help alleviate shortages if there was no new rain.

"Between 8-10 million cubic metres of water now in emergency storage can be pumped for additional supplies to consumers until September," Mr Cherdchai said, adding that industrial operators in Map Ta Phut had overreacted to fears of a water shortage.

Fears of a shortage had prompted businesses in the estate to earlier pledge that they would cut back water consumption voluntarily by 40% starting Monday to help extend supplies until the end of July.

23/06/2005: SCC to cut petrochemical output 40%

The Siam Cement Group, the country's largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday announced it was cutting back production at its petrochemical operations in the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate by 40% because of drought and water shortages along the Eastern Seaboard. Other petrochemical and petroleum refineries located in the area are expected to announce similar cutbacks unless water conditions improve in the area. Government officials, including spokesman Lt Pol Chalermdej Jombunud, Industry Minister Watana Muangsook and Agriculture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan had earlier insisted that water supplies in the eastern region were sufficient for business operations. But SCC, in a statement to the Stock Exchange of Thailand, said that the "longer than expected drought spell has brought water levels in the surrounding reservoir that supplies the industrial estate to a very low level".
[...]
Cloud seeding had helped add 200,000 cubic metres of water per day to reservoirs in the eastern area, although some 40% of the rain was outside of catchment areas and instead falling on agricultural land.

Artificial rain, together with meteorological forecasts calling for heavy storms, will help boost potential supplies to 10 million cubic metres.

21/06/2005: Key plants in Map Ta Phut estate to have water cut 40%

Representatives from all industrial plants in the estate will come together today at a meeting hosted by the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand. Representatives from the Rayong administration, the Energy Ministry and the Royal Irrigation Department will also attend.
[...]
Short-term measures are now being employed, such as sinking more artesian wells and cloud-seeding. Scheduled shutdowns of factories are being moved forward.

East Water forecasts 11.5% sales increase

While raw water sales rose 12.66% from the year before and tap water sales were up 19.18%, drinking water sales fell by 93.31% to 4.25 million baht, due largely to a 61-million-baht recognition of vending machine sales in 2004. Mr Wanchai said the company was confident that 2005 revenues would rise 20% from the year before, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation projected at one billion baht for the year. While rain last month was less than expected, the company was in talks with the Agriculture Ministry about cloud seeding in Rayong to help supplement supply in the Rayong area.

18/04/2005: Thailand's royal approach to rainmaking

Cloud seeding is a technique used to ease drought by spraying chemicals, ranging from silver iodine to salt and dry ice, into clouds to increase rainfall. The chemicals cause vapour droplets to freeze into snow, which melts as it falls to the ground.

In regions with pronounced wet and dry seasons, the technique helps overcome drought. In this article, Paris Lord reports that agricultural officials in Thailand say that cloud seeding more than 1,000 times in less than one month has eased the toughest drought in seven years by 80 per cent. Using a technique patented by the Thai king Bhumibol Adulyadej, two aeroplanes spray their chemicals into warm and cold clouds at different altitudes to make rain over a wide. Thailand's success has led countries including Cambodia and Oman to ask for technical assistance to help relieve their own droughts. As Thailand considers how best to help, it has warned that cloud seeding only works with suitable clouds and when the humidity is higher than 60 per cent. Also, it cannot do much to ease extreme droughts. Cloud seeding experiments have been taking place for more than 60 years and the technique has been applied successfully in several countries including Australia, China, Malaysia and the Philippines.

15/04/2005: Rainmaking efforts ease drought

Planes take off almost every day over Thailand's dried-out rice paddies with a chemical cocktail that scientists -- guided by Thailand's king -- hope will wring the clouds dry and ease a drought that has scorched southeast Asia.

The propeller planes are packed with up to seven people including the pilot, scientists and technicians, all squeezing in around large containers of chemicals ranging from silver iodine to ordinary salt and dry ice.

Flying at about 3,000m over parched fields, dusty dams and thirsty rivers, the planes fly directly into clouds that most pilots avoid so scientists can dump their loads and wait for rain.

Thai agricultural officials say those rainmaking efforts -- known as cloud seeding -- have worked and eased the toughest drought in seven years by 80 percent.

The reported success has led countries from Oman to Cambodia to ask Thailand if the method used here could ease periodic droughts in their countries, but scientists warn that cloud seeding works only in certain circumstances.

Besides, cloud seeding has a history which stretches back more than six decades and results of experiments around Asia have been mixed at best and appear more likely to cushion a drought's impact than break it.

Thailand has used cloud seeding for almost 30 years, led by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has his own patented rain-making technique.

Rainmaking begins when the relative humidity exceeds 60 percent. Lower humidity makes the efforts harder, Wathana Sukarnkanaset, director of Thailand's bureau of royal rainmaking and agricultural aviation, tells AFP.

The chemicals are sprayed into clouds to encourage smaller clouds to merge and induce rain. The cocktail causes tiny vapor droplets to coalesce and the water freezes into snow which melts as it falls.

The king's technique uses two aircraft to seed warm and cold clouds at different altitudes to make rain over a wider area than other methods, Wathana said.

Flights by BT-67s, Nomads and Cessna Caravans are held almost daily and last up to two hours, depending on the aircraft's size and the target area.

With Thailand's drought pinching, the air force, police and navy loaned the agricultural ministry additional planes, giving scientists a total of 45 aircraft for cloud seeding, Wathana says.

The rainmaking bureau has 600 staff and a budget of almost one billion baht (US$25 million), though expanded operations this year and rising fuel costs could force them to request more money, Wathana says.

Like much of the rest of the region, Thailand receives lots of rain -- more than 1,200mm a year in most areas and up to 4,000mm in some coastal provinces.

But the rain doesn't fall evenly across the year, causing a cycle of droughts and floods, made worse this year by the exceptionally harsh dry season ahead of the rains that normally begin in mid-May.

"Our technique tries to help distribute rain for the whole season," Wathana says.

Ancora:

Save water. Shower with your friend

Couples in the Philippine capital could find themselves in hot water after being asked to start sharing the tub at bath time as part of a conservation drive. "Start sharing baths with your partner to conserve water," the environment department advised the parched capital's 12 million residents. Unseasonably dry weather has depleted water levels in the main reservoirs supplying the metropolis and officials were meeting on Friday to consider rationing and other measures. Environment Secretary Elisea Gozun warned things could get worse before the monsoon season begins in May and said officials were "sounding the alarm early to avoid a water shortage." As a haze of pollution masked blue skies over Manila on Friday, the weather bureau said fewer typhoons than normal at the end of last year caused water levels to drop and that the city could not expect a rainy reprieve for several months. To hurry things along, officials plan to start cloud-seeding to raise water levels in the reservoir.

27/04/2005: DA prepares cloud-seeding for Sarangani

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) is planning to conduct cloud seeding operations in Sarangani and North Cotabato provinces in the next two weeks to induce rains and mitigate the effects of the El Niño phenomenon.

Engr. Prisco Margate, agricultural engineering division chief of DA-Region XII, said the governments of the two provinces sought cloud seeding operations to help save the remaining standing crops in their areas.

A cloud seeding operation involves the manual planting or distribution of salt into rain clouds through the use of an airplane to induce rains.

"We're actually ready to launch it anytime but we are still waiting for the delivery of their counterpart salt stocks," he said Tuesday afternoon over DA-XII's radio program, AgriWatch.

Margate said they need to conduct cloud seeding in the two provinces since the effects of the drought, were already beyond the tolerance level of most agricultural crops.

In North Cotabato, the provincial agriculture office earlier estimated that some P172 million worth of agricultural crops were destroyed by the El Nino in 14 of its 18 towns.

The dry spell reportedly damaged 22,217 hectares of palay and corn farms covering some 7,159 farmers.

Reports were not immediately available for Sarangani province but Margate said they had monitored that farm and grazing lands in most parts of the area have dried up.

"During our recent travels to these areas, we noticed that even fruit trees like durian have started wilting. Even bananas planted by some major fruit companies are already wilting," he said.

Margate said they also received reports that due to the drought, the size of bananas recently harvested in several plantations in the area, has shrunk. A shrunken banana is not considered quality size.

Margate pointed out that the proposed cloud seeding will not totally solve the problems wrought by the drought but could help lessen the destruction like in South Cotabato.

"Our operations (in South Cotabato) were very positive since we succeeded in saving a big portion of the area's standing crops. We successfully induced rains every after each flight," he said.

Margate said they utilized some 440 bags of salt provided by the government of South Cotabato for the 24 cloud seeding flights since April 3. The cloud seeding operations utilized a P25,000 per hour Islander-type commercial plane.

Reynaldo Legaste, South Cotabato agriculture office chief, reported that as a result of the cloud seeding operations, some 2,000 hectares of standing corn and palay in the province's upper valley area were saved from wilting.

Legaste, who heads the provincial El Niño task force, said they expect to harvest these crops by June.

He also said that the upper valley area which comprises the towns of T'boli, Banga, Surallah, Norala, Lake Sebu and Sto. Niño, was the primary target of the cloud seeding operations as these areas lost some P78 million worth of agricultural crops.

E ancora!

04/05/2005: Cloud Seeding To Help Put Out Peat Fires

MIRI, May 4 (Bernama) -- Cloud seeding will be carried out Thursday over Miri and its outskirts, particularly in the Sarawak-Brunei transboundary region in Kuala Baram to help put out peat forest fires, Assistant Minister for the Environment Dr Abang Abdul Rauf Abang Zen said Wednesday.

He said Royal Malaysian Air Force aircraft would be mobilised in the operation as there were two hotspots still razing out of nine areas, detected by the task force of the Miri Division Natural Disaster and Relief Committee.

"This is to prevent the condition from worsening. It is to help induce rain to help clear the air and douse the fires which occur mostly in forests and beneath peat soil," he told reporters after joining the Miri Division Natural Disaster and Relief Committee's inspection of the worst-affected area in Kuala Baram.

Miri has been severely affected by hot weather condition plus smog in recent weeks, and with unhealthy air pollutant levels for four consecutive days from April 27.

Among the efforts undertaken by the Disaster Relief Committee was getting the private sector to assist personnel from the Fire and Rescue Services Department to douse fires apart from building trenches in the affected areas.

The authorities had also erected 21 signboards at strategic places reminding people that it is an offence to carry out open burning, especially in non-native land, without prior approval from the Natural Resources and Environment Board.

Abang Abdul Rauf said investigation papers were on their way to the State Attorney General on three companies that allegedly conducted open burning on their land in the Miri outskirts.

"The State AG will decide whether to prosecute the three companies causing the haze and deteriorating air quality here in the past three weeks," he said.

Section 30 (2) of the Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) Ordinance provides a maximum fine of RM30,000 and imprisonment of up to three years upon conviction. Offenders were also liable to a fine of RM9,000 per day for failing to douse the fires within a stipulated time. Apart from the companies, four persons had been caught for open burning but had their cases compounded for RM200 on the spot. Abang Abdul Rauf urged the people to co-operate fully with the authorities on a zero tolerance campaign to ensure no more cases of open burning as Miri gears up to be elevated to city status on May 20 to become the second city in Sarawak, after Kuching.

The open burning and wild fires had escalated to dangerous levels last week, shrouding the municipality from the Sarawak-Brunei transboundary 'Asean Bridge' region to the south Lambir outskirts with smog and ash.

Un giro per l'Africa male non fa.

01/06/2005: African Desert States Tackle Conflict, Poverty, Drought

African leaders from the 21-member community of Sahel and Sahara states, known as CENSAD, are in Burkina Faso to find better ways to tackle conflict, poverty and drought.
[...]
The Burkina Faso foreign minister says certain cooperation projects spearheaded by Libya have already come to fruition. "For example the hotels, for example the energy with the gas, for example the results in the agriculture area and water but we have to go ahead," he said. Areas where he says quick progress is needed include a cloud seeding project to combat a drought devastating parts of northwestern Africa, eliminating the problem of crop-destroying locusts to ensure food security, and making the region's ailing cotton sector more profitable.

19/06/2005: New Ideas Emerge to Fight West African Hunger

New ideas are being thought out to help millions of people facing famine in the semi-arid Sahel region of West Africa.Some ideas seem like wishful thinking, but others are intriguing, such as borrowing ideas from the volatile world of investing. Locust invasions and erratic rains have destroyed grazing land, and led to crop failure in areas stretching from northern Senegal to Chad, leaving millions in need of urgent food aid. Regional humanitarian coordinator Nick Ireland, from the British group Oxfam, says the worst affected are in small, hard to reach areas.

"Certainly, the more northern regions of Mali, Niger, also pockets in Mauritania," he said, "but it's worth noting that malnutrition by it's very nature often comes in pockets, and it's often these communities, living on the fringes of the desert, who are very mobile in their nature, that have been the most affected in this particular period."

[...]

Some ideas, which would need long-term funding, but haven't been tried on a large-scale include cloud-seeding to stimulate rain, and working to stop desertification. This seems expensive and unrealistic given current donor fatigue.

Ci sono anche i nostri amici di sempre:

But a proposal from the World Food Program is generating excitement among those involved in the battle against hunger.

An official in charge of business planning at the U.N. body, Richard Wilcox, says he is trying to launch a type of market trading system that will allow investors to bet against the weather.

That would allow stock and commodity traders in London or Chicago to hedge against certain climate patterns in countries like Niger and Mali.

The system would be designed to have money available for affected countries as soon as rainfall data suggests that widespread food shortages were likely, or that locusts were about to lay eggs. This would in turn reap the necessary funds for aid agencies, which, hunger experts agree, remain the only ones capable of mounting a proper crisis response.

31/05/2005: Big plans for Sahara region

Ouagadougou - Leaders from the 21-member Community of Sahel and Sahara states will gather here from Wednesday to make concrete progress towards African integration while dealing with the menace of famine and locusts that threaten many of the already instable nations. "It's a summit with new goals; the time has come to turn CenSad into a real driver for development and integration," said Youssouf Ouedraogo, foreign minister for host Burkina Faso.

"We must also frame our organisation's goals better, developing projects that will help boost agricultural production while doing double duty in the battle against locusts," he added, in reference to the moderately successful cloud-seeding projects underway in the arid desert states.

Countries grouped under CenSad are among the world's poorest, with paltry public infrastructure, few economic assets and populations chronically threatened by hunger, disease and, most troubling, civil conflict that compounds both. The hunger crisis in countries stretching across the bottom of the Sahel is particularly acute this year, following last year's devastating locust invasion, the worst in over a decade. The United Nations has issued numerous appeals to alleviate the food shortage, the latest of which came last week, for massive Niger, where an estimated three million of the country's 11 million people risk serious malnutrition. CenSad's last summit, in May of 2004, aimed to create a zone-wide water authority in an effort to cooperatively deal with the intractible problem of drought and water shortage that has parched the region and wizened the crops upon which 80% of the zone's 350 million people rely.

Finding some resolution for the political crises strafing CenSad members Sudan, Togo and Ivory Coast will also be on the agenda for the annual meeting of the zone, created in February 1998 at the impetus of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Security issues, arms and drug trafficking as well as the problem of illegal migration will also be addressed by the leaders from Libya, Burkina Faso, Mali, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Central African Republic, Senegal, Gambia, Djibouti, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Somalia, Togo, Benin, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast and Liberia. The summit is to conclude with the admission of Ghana and Sierra Leone as attending members, and will also officially launch an economic and social council.

Bisogna passare a salutare anche i russi.

08/05/2005: Moscow gears up for Victory Day celebrations

MOSCOW, May 7 (Xinhuanet) -- With a memorial devoted to the 60th anniversary of Soviet victory over Nazi Germany unveiled Saturday, Moscow is gearing up for a grand celebration Monday that will include a Victory Day parade at Red Square and gather a host of world leaders. The memorial complex, overlooked by a soaring obelisk dedicated to the war's veterans on the Bowing Hill, was unveiled by President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov. The complex is composed of 15 bronze pillars standing on podiums, each of which bore the name of a front unit or a fleet that served in the Soviet army during World War II and the name ofits commander. "We shall always remember and honor the winners. They defended our right to live and have our own statehood and culture, and they safeguarded the future of our children," Putin said at the unveiling ceremony. Downtown Moscow is awash in banners and posters lauding the contributions of individual Soviet battle units to the victory of the war. "Glory belongs to the infantry," a banner read. At a bookstore on Tver Street, books about World War II and hand-written letters from readers expressing gratitude to war veterans are on display in show windows.

"Thank you for your valor and fearlessness, for your patriotism and confidence in victory, for the smiles of our children and our vast land, and for the opportunity to be proud of you," a reader wrote. The city is livened up with decorative flags, colored lights and flowers. A huge air balloon bearing the words "Victory 60" has been anchored off Red Square, Moscow's most famous landmark, which is off limits to tourists due to Victory Day parade rehearsals. About seven million people are expected to attend the festivities on and around May 9 that feature numerous concerts, fireworks displays and other entertainment in city parks. As more than 50 world leaders are due to fly in Sunday for a series of official events, security is high in the city. Black-bereted riot police are combing the streets in the city center and police line the roads leading to Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport. About 20,000 police and soldiers will be on the streets Monday and all shops will be closed in the city center for security reasons, The Moscow Times newspaper reported. Police are advising Moscow residents to stay at home Sunday and Monday to avoid huge traffic delays and frequent document checks.

More than 20 fighter jets and 20 combat helicopters will guard Moscow's airspace on May 9, Russian Air Force Commander General Vladimir Mikhailov was quoted by Interfax as saying.

Weather control operations began Saturday to dispel clouds above Moscow to make sure the May 9 celebrations stays rain-free.

10/05/2005: Russian air force clears rain clouds

Watching out that no rain clouds dampen the Victory Day celebrations attended by leaders of 53 nations, Russian air force's special squad aircraft were pressed into service on Monday to clear cloud-cover over Moscow.

According to Air Head Quarters at 5.30 am (local time), 12 Antonov An-12 and Ilyushin IL-18 aircraft took position in the sky over Moscow, divided in 10 zones, as a cyclone from the west advanced towards the capital.

Flying at the altitude of 3,000 - 8,000 metre, the planes sprinkled various chemicals including silver iodide, liquid nitrogen, dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) and even ordinary cement to seed the clouds at a distance of 50-150 km away.

Ordinary CEMENT? E chi dovrebbe mai respirare questa roba? Fammi indovinare?

By 10 am, sharp at the start of the military parade, rain had stopped in Red Square and the sky was clear for the impressive flypast by Sukhoi and MiG fighters. "The efforts would be to keep the sky clear till late in the night as hundreds of thousand people and guests are expected to take to streets to watch the spectacular fireworks in various parts of the capital," Air Force spokesman Colonel Drobyshevsky said. According to the organisers, for the first time Moscow on Monday night would use computer designed fireworks.

Russia Prepares to Mark Victory Day, But Not Everyone's Celebrating

Moscow (CNSNews.com) - Next Monday marks the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany, but Russia's hopes to turn the celebrations into a major diplomatic coup could be undermined by disputes with ex-Soviet allies. President Bush, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac will be among more than 50 world leaders attending festivities in Moscow's Red Square. Nazi Germany formally surrendered to Allied forces on May 8, 1945, but Russia traditionally marks its "Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War" one day later, because of time differences. Bush will attend VE (Victory in Europe) Day in the Netherlands on Sunday before traveling to Moscow. His attendance alongside President Vladimir Putin is a symbolic gesture recalling the wartime Alliance with the Soviet Union to defeat Nazi Germany. Britain has not yet announced whether its prime minister will attend, pending the outcome of Thursday's general election.
[...]
Anti-aircraft missile batteries will have orders to shoot down any plane breaking a no-fly zone in force over the city, while 20,000 police and soldiers will be out on the streets.

Russian media have reported that the authorities have received a tip-off that terrorists are planning an attack using an ambulance.

Police have ordered that only state-owned ambulances with permits will be allowed to travel in the city until next Tuesday.

For Muscovites, the festivities are likely to cause significant inconvenience. From May 7-9, the city center, many major streets and parts of Moscow's beltway will be closed to all traffic apart from official cavalcades. Residents have been advised to stay home.

They may at least enjoy some good weather: The government says it plans to dispatch pilots on a cloud-"seeding" mission aimed at keeping rain away from the city for Monday's parade.

08/05/2005: Moscow Kicks Off 60th Anniversary Festivities Marking End of WWII

Residents of Moscow have been urged to leave the city for the secure confines of their country homes, or dachas. But for those who do stay in the Russian capital, there will be concerts and parades at parks outside the city center. Monday evening, huge firework displays are planned. City officials are also going to great lengths to try and ensure good weather for the events, sending out special cloud seeding aircraft to ward off heavy rains. But as of Sunday evening the planes, using technology inherited from the Soviet Union, appear to have done more harm than good, with a cold rain dousing the capital, just as the official delegations began arriving.

09/05/2005: Fly jets, keep rains away

MOSCOW, MAY 8: Moscow is a city where there is always uncertainty about the weather. So since the days of the erstwhile USSR, when national holidays were celebrated, leaders made preparations to prevent rains to keep people in a ‘‘good mood’’. The practice has continued in democratic Russia.

It was perfect weather with the sun beating down when PM Manmohan Singh left for Moscow to attend the 60th anniversary of the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany. But by the time the plane touched down at Vnukovo airport, it had started raining.

Russian Air Force’s cloud-seeding planes were ready to take up the challenge to prevent the rains. But they could not, at least, on Sunday, as the airspace over Moscow was closed due to the dozens of foreign leaders arriving in the city for the occasion.

If the rains continue tonight, the cloud-seeding jets will take-off to spray chemicals to prevent the formation of clouds and create ‘‘fine weather’’ for the military parade and other gala events to be held on Monday.

The practice of cloud-seeding is a costly affair but the Kremlin does not mind spending money when it comes to things called ‘‘Russian prestige’’. Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally ordered the authorities to disperse the clouds during the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg in 2003, at the cost of about $1million.

Ci è arrivato anche il TGCOM, nel disinteresse generale:

09/05/2005: Mosca, festa della Liberazione

10.09 - Dopo aver reso omaggio al monumento del Milite ignoto i capi di Stato e di governo presenti alle celebrazioni per il 60esimo anniversario della vittoria sul nazismo pranzeranno al Cremlino, ospiti del presidente russo Vladimir Putin. Tra i leader ci sarà anche il premier Silvio Berlusconi. Il pranzo offerto dallo 'Zar' sarà l'occasione per un incontro tra il presidente del Consiglio italiano e lo stesso Putin e il presidente degli Stati Uniti George W. Bush.

[...]

8.01 - In una Mosca sotto assedio nel timore di attentati ceceni, con il centro trasformato in un'enorme zona pedonale, è incominciata la maestosa parata militare sulla Piazza Rossa per il sessantesimo anniversario della vittoria sulla Germania nazista. Il presidente russo Vladimir Putin assiste alla parata assieme ai Vip di mezzo mondo, tra cui il presidente americano George W. Bush (che ha fatto sedere alla sua sinistra in tribuna) e tutti i leader dell'Europa occidentale (compreso il presidente del Consiglio italiano Silvio Berlusconi). Malgrado gli sforzi dell'aviazione militare russa che ha bombardato le spesse nuvole per garantire il sole sulla Piazza Rossa, il tempo e' incerto e minaccia pioggia.

Poteva mancare il quotidiano progressista?

09/05/2005: I Grandi sfilano sulla piazza Rossa

MOSCA - Una maestosa parata militare sulla Piazza Rossa ha festeggiato i sessant'anni della vittoria sulla Germania nazista in una Mosca blindata per il timore di attentati ceceni. Il centro della capitale, trasformato in un'enorme zona pedonale, ha accolto il presidente russo Vladimir Putin e una cinquantina di leader stranieri, a cominciare dal presidente americano George W. Bush. Tutto è filato liscio e quasi per incanto la pioggia, che ha costretto Putin e Bush a raggiungere la Piazza Rossa sotto gli ombrelli, è cessata quando alle 10 in punto (le 8 in Italia) i rintocchi della Torre Spasskaia del Cremlino hanno dato il via alla spettacolare celebrazione: bontà dell'aviazione russa che negli ultimi giorni ha mobilitato una decina di Antonov-12 e Iliushin-18 per bombardare le nubi e tenere lontano il maltempo.

E Slate?

11/05/2005: Can the Russians Control the Weather? - How cloud seeding works.

Last weekend, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian Air Force to keep it from raining over Moscow in advance of Monday's military parade. The Air Force used a procedure called cloud seeding, and Russia's defense minister later took credit for Monday's sunshine. Can the Russians really control the weather?

They can try. Proponents of "cloud seeding" say it's possible to induce rain and snow (after which clouds can break up and disappear), suppress hail, and clear up patches of fog. Twenty or 30 countries run cloud-seeding operations of some sort; China has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on weather manipulation over the last decade. The bureau in charge of cloud seeding in Thailand reportedly has 600 staff-members and a $25 million budget. No federal funds go toward cloud seeding in America, but a handful of states finance projects locally. Utah just kicked in for $400,000 worth of weather control projects.

Here's how it works: Rain starts as tiny droplets of water suspended in clouds. Then the droplets clump together into bigger drops (or freeze together into bigger crystals). Once the drops or crystals are big and heavy enough, they fall out of the sky. The frozen drops can melt on the way down, becoming rain, or they can fall to the ground as snow. Cloud seeding aims to jump-start this process by helping droplets to clump or freeze together when they otherwise wouldn't.

Cloud seeders use a number of procedures. In the mid-1940s, three scientists at General Electric (including the novelist Kurt Vonnegut's brother Bernie) showed that by injecting dry ice into a cloud, you could freeze tiny droplets of water, which would in turn make it easier for other droplets to glom on and freeze as well. Later experiments showed that silver iodide—which has a crystal structure similar to that of ice—could also help, by forming "ice nuclei" upon which droplets might freeze.

To induce rain with dry ice, you would fly a plane over a small cloud and sprinkle down a few cups' worth of dry ice pellets. To seed with silver iodide, you'd vaporize a solution at high temperatures and disperse it in the cloud. This can be done using silver iodide flares, which are dropped 8 or 10 at a time from above the cloud, or with silver-iodide-filled rockets or anti-aircraft shells. If you're seeding clouds over a mountain, you can use generators on the ground which release silver iodide vapor into the air currents that rise up one side of the mountain and into the clouds.

Silver iodide and dry ice are examples of "glaciogenic" agents, and they only help to produce rain in clouds of sufficiently low temperatures. For warmer clouds—in which droplets don't freeze before falling—cloud seeders can use sprays of saline solution to attract droplets and, theoretically, to induce rain.

It's difficult to prove whether cloud seeding actually has any effect. Weather phenomena are so variable that slight changes in the probability of rain are difficult to measure, and not many careful, controlled studies have been done. The U.S. federal government was at one time very optimistic about weather manipulation; by the late 1970s, annual funding for cloud-seeding projects hit $20 million. But after years without definitive results, interest in Washington has evaporated (except, perhaps, among the people who introduced this bill in the Senate in early March). Some studies have suggested that cloud seeding actually reduces rainfall, or merely redistributes it. A 2003 report from the National Research Council concluded that while cloud seeding may hold promise, we still don't know very much about it.

The Quest to Control Clouds

Russia's air force tried to dissolve rain clouds during the parade commemorating the end of World War II. They're not the only ones to attempt this. But is it actually possible for humans to control the weather?

In order to keep world leaders dry during the festivities marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Moscow on May 9, Russian planes attacked dark rain clouds above Moscow with chemicals. The clouds actually disappeared, but it's unclear whether the planes had anything to do with that.

Theoretically speaking, it's possible to dissolve rain clouds, according to weather experts. Clouds could be manipulated to drop their load in places where it doesn't bother anyone.

Rain clouds above Germany

"Rain drops that float in the air are only about 100 to 200 micrometers in size," said Stephan Borrmann, a cloud expert and professor at the Institute for Atmospheric Physics in Mainz.

"In order for them to fall, they have to reach a size of about one millimeter," he added. "That's what we call rain."

Dry ice and other secrets

Using dry ice would be one possible way to exploit this.

"The cloud turns to ice and ice particles absorb steam quicker," said Jost Heintzenberg, the director of the Institute for Tropospheric Research in Leipzig.

This leads the particles grow in size, making them heavier and causing them to fall. If the air below the cloud is warm, the particles would come down as rain. If it's cold, it would hail. Heintzenberg added that about 80 percent of rain on earth develops this way. By attacking clouds with dry ice, they could be forced to drop their loads in specific places.

A second possible strategy would be to spray clouds with a special kind of salt called silver iodine. It's used because its structure is very similar to that of ice, Heintzenberg said.

"That makes it easier for water molecules to attach," he added.

This again creates large ice cubes that melt and rain down. It's not a cheap option, however: Silver iodine is expensive and would probably harm the environment if used in large quantities, Borrmann said.

A man tries to control his umbrella in strong winds and heavy rain

A third option would be to keep the clouds to releasing rain by spiking them with additional particles -- so-called aerosol nuclei. They cause steam to divide up in a greater number of smaller drops, which melt and evaporate.

Ships as weather-makers?

It's an effect that's also caused by large ships, Heintzenberg said.

"The droplets become smaller because of soot particles released by the ships," he said, adding that this also prevents clouds from releasing rain.

But the opposite could also happen, he added, saying that warm soot particles create turbulences that mix up cold and warm layers of air that were separated before.

Searching for decades

All of this is highly theoretical and can hardly be used in real life, however. Researchers have been trying to come up with solutions since the 1950s -- especially in dry parts of the earth.

"Clouds form around Cape Town's Table Mountain and their water content is dragged to earth via wires," Borrmann said. "But that's just a few liters each time."

Agriculture could actually profit from some of these tests.

"The one thing that can be done with aerosol nuclei is to turn hail clouds into rain clouds," Borrmann said.

Few hopes for success

But he and Heintzenberg both said they doubted that scientists could really manipulate the weather.

"You cannot prove statistically that a cloud would have behaved differently if it hadn't been treated," Heintzenberg said, adding that he couldn't imagine an effective way to treat thick layers of clouds in any case.

"And besides, legal issues also have to be taken into consideration," he said. "What are you going to do if it rains in the wrong place?"

In the end, a cloud will remain a majestic miracle.

"If a could doesn't feel like raining, it just won't do it," Borrmann said.

Tutti in Cina!

07/07/2003: Artificial rain eases drought in Beijing

BEIJING, July 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Twenty silver-iodide missiles were fired over the weekend in Beijing to alleviate the dry spells thathave lasted for years. According to the Beijing Morning News published on Monday, the rainmaking effort started on Saturday evening brought moderate rain mainly in four districts of Beijing, namely the Changping, Yanqing, Pinggu and Haidian, all in northern Beijing, with a maximum precipitation of 41 millimeters. Zhou Xiaoping, a noted expert with the Beijing Special Meteorology Office, said that the artificial rainfall will help plants grow, increase the level in reservoirs and add water to thebarren soil. Although it has rained much more frequently this year, the precipitation in Beijing remains below average, he said. The rainmaking efforts helped bring the temperature below the predicted 32 degrees Celsius which would otherwise have continued for another two days, forcing gardeners to water plants, Zhou said. More artificial rainfall projects can be expected in the next few days, according to the local weather control office.

A proposito di missili...

Teenager tried to cut up missile with an axe

A teenager who found a cloud-seeding missile was almost killed when he tried to cut it up for scrap metal with an axe. Milan Petrov, 16, from Vinica, Macedonia, found the missile in a forest near his house and brought it home to cut up for scrap metal. But he was badly injured when it blew up after he hit it several times with a heavy axe. Doctors said he was lucky to be alive, adding: "It's a miracle that he wasn't blown to bits along with the rocket." He is now in a stable condition and recovering in hospital. Weather modification rockets are used to directly influence hail-producing or rain-bearing clouds by dispersing ice-forming chemical agents.

Ancora in Cina:

25/04/2005: Jilin coal mine flooding traps 69 men

BEIJING, April 25 -- Sixty-nine miners were trapped yesterday morning in a coal mine that flooded in Northeast China's Jilin Province, Xinhua News reports.

The flood, in Jiaohe County, could have been triggered by rainfall set off by cloud seeding and melted ice from the Songhua River, local sources said. Rescue work was under way.

L'avventura continua:

16/04/2005: Kicking up a storm with the cloud seeders

Are the rainmakers about to have the last laugh? New Scientist investigates the controversial art of cloud seeding

CANONS blazed and aircraft deployed their payloads, but not a drop of blood was shed in the battle between the cities of Pingdingshan and Zhoukou in Henan province, China, on 10 July last year. That's because their targets weren't people, but clouds.

The blistering dry spell that struck the province threatened to cause water shortages and ruin crops. The problem was frustratingly clear: though clouds drifted across the skies, too few would give up their water as rain. To coax the water out, Pingdingshan meteorologists decided to resort to a controversial practice they believed would help the heavens break, called cloud seeding. Anti-aircraft guns and rockets were used to bombard pregnant clouds with a fine spray of silver iodide crystals in the hope they would prompt large droplets to form in the cloud, and thus produce more rain.

A few hours later it looked like their gambit had paid off.

Ancora:

Station Crew Notes Absence of American Air Traffic in Wake of Terrorist Attacks

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The International Space Station’s crew spied yet more evidence Friday of the aftermath of this week’s terrorists attacks on America: the lack of air traffic over the continental United States.

Three days after suicide airplane hijackers toppled the World Trade Center in New York and slammed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., the station crew noted an obvious absence of airborne jetliners from their perch 240 miles (384 kilometers) above Earth.

"I’ll tell you one thing that’s really strange: Normally when we go over the U.S., the sky is like a spider web of contrails," U.S. astronaut and outpost commander Frank Culbertson told flight controllers at NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston.

"And now the sky is just about completely empty. There are no contrails in the sky," he added. "It’s very, very weird."

Andiamo tutti su www.chemtrails.ch, cerchiamo questo "web" di "contrails" che seguono - ovviamente - le rotte commerciali, essendo lo scopo del volo proprio il trasporto del carico da un aeroporto all'altro.

Le rotte commerciali.

Una rotta commerciale multiculturale, compatibile con la bandiera del Gay Pride.

Altra diversità da celebrare nel cielo.

Un'altra rotta commerciale.

Nuvole a righe, collezione commerciale autunno-inverno.

Altre nuvole a righe, per proseguire la nostra sfilata commerciale.

Rotte commerciali, compatibili con la presenza di un aeroporto nel vialetto di ogni casa.

Altre rotte commerciali. La stessa rotta non viene mai usata due volte di seguito altrimenti si consuma.

Purtroppo il protocollo di Kyoto non impone di riciclare le rotte commerciali, ecco perché ogni volta se ne deve creare una nuova un po' più in là.

Nell'interesse dell'efficienza e del risparmio, cardini dei voli commerciali su rotte commerciali...

Lo spasso continua:

05/05/2005: Santorum's weather bill in a squall

Sen. Rick Santorum's on the phone, explaining why he wants to control the weather.

The Republican from Pennsylvania introduced Senate Bill 786 on April 14. It will limit the National Weather Service to delivering severe weather forecasts, not daily local forecasts that are profit makers for commercial weather forecasters.

Put it this way: If the media, farmers and the public can get a five-day forecast free from the National Weather Service Web site, who needs AccuWeather?

We do, Santorum said.

"The core mission of the National Weather Service is not the five-day forecast but to prepare the public for weather emergencies," he said.

"The Weather Service should not be investing resources, time and energy in providing travel forecasts for airlines or Pebble Beach or ski resorts."

I pointed out that AccuWeather takes government weather data we already have paid for through taxes, packages and resells it at a profit. That seems unfair. But Santorum had a comeback.

"The government should not compete in an area outside its mission where there is a private sector available," he said.

For 55 years, the Weather Service has had a no-compete clause in its charter, he said.

But it was repealed last December allowing anyone access to weather data long mined by commercial weather forecasters.

"[The National Weather Service] changed their policy to do something they hadn't done in the history of the Weather Service," Santorum said. "We're just saying go back to the old policy."

He has a point. With the exception of beady-eyed bureaucrats and mountains of regulatory paperwork, the private sector routinely produces products superior to those of the government.

(Ask yourself: If you need a package delivered overnight, would you choose the U.S. Postal Service or UPS?)

Still, I've read Santorum's weather bill three times and it's vaguely worded as to allow for maximum spin - not just from Santorum, but from AccuWeather Executive Vice President Barry Myers, whose company is based in State College.

Myers on Wednesday sent me a three-page talking-points memo on Santorum's bill and said 786 provides "unfettered public access" to government weather data.

Unfettered, but packaged and resold through AccuWeather and companies like it?

"The private sector does a better job," Myers told me.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign contributions, three contributors with the last name "Myers" whose occupations are listed as "Accu Weather" in State College have given $6,000 to Santorum since 1999.

Santorum said the money did not persuade him to introduce the weather control bill.

"Six thousand dollars? Oh, come on, guys. I've got a $25 million campaign this year. I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do," he said.

It's about preserving jobs, he said. AccuWeather is the largest (325 employees) of 14 commercial weather forecasting companies in Pennsylvania.

Barry Myers said his and other cash donations to Santorum have nothing to do with protecting AccuWeather's franchise.

"Sen. Santorum has been interested in this for some time," he said. "I agree with a number of things he's done. He's been a strong advocate for Pennsylvania."

I'll take Myers at his word.

But the golden rule in journalism, as in life, is "follow the money."

Because when it comes to cash and politics, you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

30/05/2005: Bill would restrict Weather Service data

WASHINGTON - A tempestuous clash between the National Weather Service and private weather companies is prompting an influential senator to intervene to protect AccuWeather, WeatherBank and other firms that package forecasts for public use.

Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., the Senate's third-ranking Republican, is pushing a bill that critics say would force the Weather Service to disseminate much of its data only to private companies.

The bill, these opponents contend, would limit the public's access to user-friendly weather information and require that people go to a commercial weather company to get any meaningful interpretation of raw climate data.

But the bill's supporters say the Weather Service could still make information available to the public, and they praise the measure for seeking to restrict what they say is unfair government competition.

Santorum, who faces a tough re-election fight next year, makes little secret that he is in part trying to protect the weather companies based in his home state, including AccuWeather.

"I've got about 1,000 jobs in Pennsylvania and 14 weather companies, believe it or not, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," Santorum told a local radio station recently. "That's how they make their money, in providing these services. And we don't think that the Weather Service, which does a fine job... should be doing this job."

For years, the National Weather Service has coexisted uneasily with weather-packaging companies. With its unmatched fleet of buoys, satellites, aircraft, upper-air weather balloons and ground sites, the Weather Service generates raw weather data, forecasts and warnings. It also negotiates with foreign countries for their climate information.

Private companies, in turn, take this raw data and, among other services, turn them into the colorful, attractive maps and graphs that readers see in newspapers and viewers watch on television.

But advances in computer graphics and software have enabled the Weather Service to easily package its information in a more appealing way and provide tailored weather forecasts through its regional offices. These presentations are increasingly available to the public on the Weather Service Web site at no charge.

When the agency rewrote its regulations late last year, after a National Research Council committee's recommendation, it got rid of a policy that clearly stated what the Weather Service would do in terms of collecting data, and what the private weather companies would do. That, in turn, brought a thunderclap of protest from private companies that believed they would face unfair competition from the federal agency.

"The government is trying to do more than us," Steven Root, president of Oklahoma-based WeatherBank, said. "When we see competitive threats from the government, it jeopardizes the well-being of the entire American weather enterprise."

Santorum was quick to respond with his bill. The part of his legislation considered most controversial says "data, information, guidance, forecasts and warnings shall be issued... through a set of data portals designed" for access by commercial providers.

It also prohibits Weather Service officials - or officials of its parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - from disclosing "weather data, information, guidance, forecast or warning, or any part thereof, to the public" before the weather data is issued to the public via commercial providers.

Santorum said in a phone interview that the agency would continue providing information to ordinary citizens.

"Of course the public has a right to the information, and what (the bill) says is that the Weather Service has a right to disseminate this information," he said.

But that's not how opponents see it.

Santorum's bill could prevent the Weather Service from providing daily forecasts or putting content on its Web site, and it could prevent academics and the public from scrutinizing the accuracy of the agency's data, said John Armstrong, who led the Committee on Partnerships in Weather and Climate Services, which looked at the Weather Service's relationship with the private sector.

"My view is, this bill would not only drastically change the ability of the Weather Service, but would also chill issues that relate" to public data and information, Armstrong said.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocate for freedom of information on the Internet, has condemned Santorum's bill.

"It is a terrible precedent for information policy," said staff member Ren Bucholz. "If the rule is, data provided by taxpayer money can't be provided to the public but through a private entity, we won't have a very useful public agency."

Non vorremmo mai che il cittadino avesse accesso al raw weather data, no?

Su thomas.loc.gov ci sono tutti i disegni di legge, per la gioia di grandi e piccini.

03/03/2005: Weather Modification Research and Technology Transfer Authorization Act of 2005

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Weather Modification Research and Technology Transfer Authorization Act of 2005'.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

It is the purpose of this Act to develop and implement a comprehensive and coordinated national weather modification policy and a national cooperative Federal and State program of weather modification research and development.

Ricordate gli allegri Boeing KC-135?

FAA official confirms Air Force tankers...

PORTLAND, Maine...A senior air traffic control manager responsible for commercial aircraft over the northeastern United States has confirmed in a second exclusive interview with radio reporter S.T. Brendt that large formations of U.S. Air Force tanker aircraft are conducting ongoing operations over the USA and Canada.

The sky-obscuring chemicals laid down in criss-cross patterns by the big jets have been observed by thousands of eyewitnesses across North America over the past two years. When asked the purpose of these missions, the FAA official said he was told "weather modification" after a "higher civil authority" ordered him to divert incoming trans-Atlantic airliners around military formations flying over 37,000 feet on March 12, 20 and 21, 2001.

On Monday, March 12, reporter Brendt and her partner Lou Aubuchont counted 30 aircraft laying down a lingering gridwork of plumes between 12:05 and 12:55 pm. Aubuchont, who witnessed many military maneuvers during his stint as a courier in U.S. Navy Intelligence, said he had never seen anything like it.

"It looked like an invasion," he told this reporter. Aubuchont emphasized that unlike aerial battle exercises, the tankers were unescorted by combat helicopters or fighter jets. "It was just tankers."

After being contacted at a major metropolitan airport by Brendt, the ATC manager drove to her home on Monday, March 26 to see for himself how many commercial jets would be visible from her location. The FAA official counted just three jets "off in the distance" between 12:05 and 12:55 pm.

Of the nine jets on his radar scope during that same time period on March 12, the official told Brendt she should have been able to see only one from her location. Instead, she and Aubuchont counted 30. And the flights continued all day.

Speaking on condition of strict anonymity in a secure location, the chain-smoking government source noted that the chemicals sprayed by the air force tankers on March 12 showed up as a "haze" on Air Traffic Control radar scopes. The weather at the time of the incident was unlimited ceiling and visibility, in a cloudless blue sky.

Such cloudy radar returns are consistent with clouds of talcum-fine aluminum oxide particles released by high-flying tankers in a process USAF Weather Force Specialists term, "aerial obscuration."

The Air Traffic Control manager admitted that the chemicals sprayed by the tankers degraded ATC radar returns. When asked if this posed a threat to flight safety, he replied, "not from my perspective."

But the ATC manager added that similar military operations have been carried out "on other dates" and "other regions" in the USA. When asked whether the air force jets crossed into Canadian air space, he replied "yes."

Open Sky Treaty...

In November, 1999, a petition signed by 550 residents of Espanola, Ontario was presented to the Canadian government after alleged overflights by U.S. Air Force tankers sprayed sky-obscuring chemicals that townspeople claimed were making children and adults sick over a 50 square-mile area. Lab tests of rainwater falling through the chemical clouds over Espanola subsequently measured aluminum levels seven-times higher than permissible federal health safety limits.

A patent issued to Hughes Aircraft Company in 1991 calls for spreading a "sunscreen" of aluminum oxide particles to reduce global warming by reflecting 1% of incoming sunlight. Computer simulations carried out by geophysicist Ken Caldeira at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory showed that an anticipated doubling of atmospheric CO2 over the next 50 years would result in no net warming across the globe if the project touted by hydrogen bomb inventor Edward Teller was carried out.

But Caldeira warned a recent gathering of geophysicists that the sky shield could drastically cool the upper stratosphere and "destroy the ozone layer."

The inert aluminum oxide spread by the big jets is not considered to pose a human health risk. But according to U.S. chemical warfare experts, all talcum-fine particulates are extremely respirable - and quick to lodge in human lungs.

Each KC-135 Stratotanker carries 150,000 pounds of transferable fuel or chemicals. The KC-10 Extender carries approximately 320,000 pounds of fuel/chemicals.

The FAA official decided to come forward after his wife was stricken with what doctors diagnosed as Sudden Adult Onset Asthma following the March 12 aerial onslaught. She has no history of allergy. Their children also suffered asthmatic reactions, including an infant son who was rushed to hospital with a gushing nose bleed.

Uncontrollable nose bleeds are commonly reported in wake of the tanker spraying. Two years ago, Brendt was admitted to a local Emergency Room with a gushing nosebleed after accidentally photographing the chemical trails.

The particles sprayed into the upper atmosphere by the big jets also act as nuclei, forming clouds and precipitation.

Immediately after the March weather modification missions, the northeastern seaboard was struck by unseasonable snowstorms that confounded 70 year-old residents, and piled eight-foot snowdrifts against Brendt's home. At least one fatality resulted from collapsing roofs.

Our investigation continues.

Altrove...

Can Aluminum Cause Alzheimer's Disease?

Senile dementia is a progressive degenerative brain disease associated with old age. Its symptoms include short-term memory loss, slowness in thought and movement, confusion, disorientation, depression, difficulty communicating, and loss of physical function. Alzheimer's disease accounts for about half of all senile dementia cases. Although there are many theories about what causes Alzheimer's, the fact is, its origins remain poorly understood.

One theory proposed that the common occurrence of being exposed to aluminum could cause Alzheimer's dementia. Aluminum, the theory postulated, becomes concentrated in the characteristic lesions (senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles) that develop in the brain during the course of the disease. At first, medical scientists thought this theory was absurd. Aluminum, they believed, accumulated merely as a result of a destructive process caused by some other factor.

In recent years, however, the aluminum hypothesis has been gaining respect. For example, studies have discovered a direct association between the level of aluminum in municipal drinking water and the risk of Alzheimer's dementia. One study found aluminum in drinking water was related to only this specific type of dementia;1 another found that the probability of the association being due to chance was only 1 in 24, with a 46 percent increased risk for people drinking water with the highest aluminum levels.

Sarà una spiegazione del fenomeno dei jeans a vita bassa?

L'avventura continua nella prossima puntata.

Mr.Hat> Aspetta! Come possiamo trovare tutte le notizie strane sul cloud seeding? Bisogna telefonare alla CIA o al Mossad?

Ma è ovvio, Mr. Cilindro!

Basta scrivere cloud seeding dentro news.google.com e vi mandano i google alert via mail.

(...panzana colossale...)

Rigorous Intuition: It doesn't take a weatherman