Cloud Seeding Completed July in Mexico Might Recharge Aquifers During Drought

In July, the government's cloud seeding initiative reached its conclusion in an effort to replenish the aquifers in Mexico during the protracted drought.

Cloud Seeding in Mexico

The government of Mexico is attempting to bring much-needed rain by using a contentious technology called cloud seeding as an acute drought grips the country, resulting in crop losses, a scarcity of water, and increasing food costs.

The most recent phase of a cloud seeding effort, which tries to artificially stimulate rainfall, was launched in July. According to a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture, it is focused on 62 communities grouped in its north and northeast to reduce the effects of drought and aid in the recharge of aquifers.

The technology of cloud seeding was initially uncovered in the 1940s. Since then, it has been utilized in about 50 nations, including China and the US. For more than 70 years, Mexico has been conducting weather modification experiments.

Some experts, however, continue to be skeptical about cloud seeding's efficacy and caution that it is not a drought solution.

It has a contentious past, according to Roelef Bruintjes, a scientist who studies weather manipulation at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the US, because it's very challenging to demonstrate what is being done scientifically.

For cloud seeding to function, a cloud must first exist. Then, planes or drones infuse the clouds with substances, causing water droplets to congregate around them and raising the possibility of precipitation or snowfall.

The goal, according to Bruintjes, is to get a greater proportion of the water that is treated in the cloud down to the surface rather than 'making clouds' because the latter is something that the government cannot do. Instead, it is attempting to get more of the water processed in the cloud to the surface.

Silver iodide particles are being sprayed into the clouds as part of a project in Mexico. The administration is hoping that encouraging rainfall will enable farmers to more effectively deal with the drought that has affected significant areas of the nation.

Deadly Extreme Drought

According to the National Weather Service, more than 40% of Mexico was experiencing moderate to severe drought as of mid-July. In addition, the nation has endured a brutal heat wave that has claimed at least 249 lives in the past four months.

Scientists agree that as the climate problem intensifies, heat waves and droughts will become more frequent and severe and that extreme weather is only going to get worse.

Mexico claims that since it began operating its current cloud seeding initiative in December 2020, it has had a favorable effect. The Government of Mexico announced that in 2021, cloud-seeding flights had resulted in 40% more rain. This statistic was derived by comparing the difference between forecasts from meteorologists and actual rainfall as recorded by rain gauges.

Doubts Surrounding Cloud Seeding

According to a spokeswoman for the business Startup Renaissance, all of their projects have been a success. The aforementioned business, which specializes in rain stimulation, has been engaged in the Mexican government cloud seeding project since 2020.

According to a recent article by Fernando García García with Guillermo Montero Martínez from the National Autonomous University of Mexico cloud physics group, published in the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate Change website, the lack of "hard evidence" that cloud seeding causes more precipitation, makes many scientists still dubious of the concept.

Bruintjes claims that the device is also ineffective at preventing droughts because there are frequently no clouds when there is a drought, CNN reports.