Beijing Weather Modification Office | |||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 北京市人工影響天氣辦公室 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 北京市人工影响天气办公室 | ||||||
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The Beijing Weather Modification Office is a unit of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau tasked with weather control in Beijing,and its surrounding areas,including parts of Hebei and Inner Mongolia. [1] [2] [3]
The Beijing Weather Modification Office form a part of China's nationwide weather control effort,believed to be the world's largest;it employs 37,000 people nationwide,who seed clouds by firing rockets and shells loaded with silver iodide into them. [4] According to Zhang Qiang,head of the Office,cloud seeding increased precipitation in Beijing by about one-eighth in 2004;nationwide,similar efforts added 210 cubic kilometres (7.4×10 12 cu ft) of rain between 1995 and 2003. [5]
The work of the Office is largely aimed at hail storm prevention or making rain to end droughts;they have also induced precipitation for purposes of firefighting or counteracting the effect of severe dust storms,as they did in the aftermath of one storm in April 2006 which dropped 300,000 tonnes of dust and sand on the city and was believed to have been the largest in five years. [2] [6] Their technology was also used to create snow on New Year's Day in 1997. [7] Other proposed future uses for induced precipitation include lowering temperatures in summer,in hopes of reducing electricity consumption. [5] More prominently,they were enlisted by the Chinese government to ensure that the 2008 Summer Olympics were free of rain,by breaking up clouds headed towards the capital and forcing them to drop rain on outlying areas instead. [4] The office created a snowstorm in November 2009. [8] [9]
Weather is the state of the atmosphere,describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold,wet or dry,calm or stormy,clear or cloudy. On Earth,most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere,the troposphere,just below the stratosphere. Weather refers to day-to-day temperature,precipitation,and other atmospheric conditions,whereas climate is the term for the averaging of atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time. When used without qualification,"weather" is generally understood to mean the weather of Earth.
Weather modification is the act of intentionally manipulating or altering the weather. The most common form of weather modification is cloud seeding,which increases rain or snow,usually for the purpose of increasing the local water supply. Weather modification can also have the goal of preventing damaging weather,such as hail or hurricanes,from occurring;or of provoking damaging weather against the enemy,as a tactic of military or economic warfare like Operation Popeye,where clouds were seeded to prolong the monsoon in Vietnam. Weather modification in warfare has been banned by the United Nations under the Environmental Modification Convention.
In meteorology,precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle,rain,sleet,snow,ice pellets,graupel and hail. Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor,so that the water condenses and "precipitates" or falls. Thus,fog and mist are not precipitation but colloids,because the water vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes,possibly acting together,can lead to air becoming saturated:cooling the air or adding water vapor to the air. Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short,intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers.
Cloud seeding is a type of weather modification that aims to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei,which alter the microphysical processes within the cloud. Its effectiveness is debated;some studies have suggested that it is "difficult to show clearly that cloud seeding has a very large effect." The usual objective is to increase precipitation,either for its own sake or to prevent precipitation from occurring in days afterward.
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Liangping District,formerly Liangping County and Liangshan County,is a district in the north of Chongqing Municipality,People's Republic of China.
Severe weather is any dangerous meteorological phenomenon with the potential to cause damage,serious social disruption,or loss of human life. Types of severe weather phenomena vary,depending on the latitude,altitude,topography,and atmospheric conditions. High winds,hail,excessive precipitation,and wildfires are forms and effects of severe weather,as are thunderstorms,downbursts,tornadoes,waterspouts,tropical cyclones,and extratropical cyclones. Regional and seasonal severe weather phenomena include blizzards (snowstorms),ice storms,and duststorms.
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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the field of Meteorology.
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Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water for hydroelectric power plants,crop irrigation,and suitable conditions for many types of ecosystems.
The July 2016 North China cyclone was a devastating extratropical cyclone which produced torrential precipitation and caused widespread flash floods over North China and portions of nearby regions,resulting in at least 184 deaths and ¥33.19 billion of damage in China.
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Cloud seeding in the United Arab Emirates is a strategy used by the government to address water challenges in the country. Cloud seeding is also referred to as man made precipitation and artificial rain making. The United Arab Emirates is one of the first countries in the Persian Gulf region to use cloud seeding technology. UAE scientists use cloud seeding technology to supplement the country's water insecurity,which stems from the extremely hot climate. They use weather radar to continuously monitor the atmosphere of the country. Forecasters and scientists have estimated that cloud seeding operations can enhance rainfall by as much as 30-35% percent in a clear atmosphere,and up to 10-15% in a more humid atmosphere. This practice has caused concerns regarding the impact on the environment because it is difficult to predict the long-term global implications.
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