GEOGRAPHY

MODULE-5
CLOUD SEEDING & OCEAN ACIDIFICATION
Cloud seeding is an artificial way of weather modification, a way of changing the
amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds. It is done by dispersing
substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation nuclei.

CHEMICALS USED
Silver iodide, dry ice (solid carbon dioxide), Liquid propane, table salt etc.
Two processes of cloud seeding:
 Hygroscopic Seeding: To get rainfall.
 Glaciogenic Seeding: To get snowfall or hail.
APPLICATIONS
 AGRICULTURE
Inducing cloud to precipitate and break dry spell helps manage sowing and
prevent crop wilting.

 DISASTER MITIGATION
o Glaciogenic techniques can be used to reduce size of hail stones and check
crop loss.
o By modifying precipitation, cloud seeding can be used to prevent both droughts
and floods.

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 EVENT MANAGEMENT
During the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, clouds were seeded using rockets,
so that there would be no rain during the opening and closing ceremonies.

 REJUVENATING GLACIERS
Glaciogenic techniques can help restore the mass of depleting glaciers.

 POLLUTION
Fog and smog, which elevates air pollution, can easily be cleared by glaciogenic
seeding.

CONS OF CLOUD SEEDING

• It uses potentially harmful chemicals. Cloud seeding involves the use of
chemicals into the air, which means that it can potentially harm the environment,
especially plants and animals. However, the complete effect of cloud seeding on
the environment is not fully known yet. Though silver iodine is not currently known
to be harmful to our health today, but it might change in the future as more research
is done and completed.
• It can lead undesirable weather problems. Once the silver iodine and other
chemicals are released into the atmosphere, there is no controlling of what type
of weather would form. It is likely that there will be too much rain, which can cause
the problem of flooding.
• High investments are associated with cloud seeding making it unsustainable.
• It is not a ‘proven technology’ and its success is dependent on several climatic
variables. Thus it needs to be properly studied before applying on large scale.

CLOUD SEEDING IN INDIA

 Experiments conducted by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune
reported to show an indication of 24 per cent enhancement in precipitation in
targeted areas.
 A ₹250-crore programme, coordinated by the Indian Institute of Tropical
Meteorology, during 2017 monsoon in Maharashtra to combat drought.

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 OCEAN ACIDIFICATION
Ocean acidification is the process of decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans, caused
by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the pH of surface ocean waters has
fallen by 0.1 pH units. Since the pH scale, like the Richter scale, is logarithmic, this
change represents approximately a 30 percent increase in acidity.

For tens of millions of years, Earth's oceans have maintained a relatively stable
acidity level. It's within this steady environment that the rich and varied web of life
in today's seas has arisen and flourished. But research shows that this ancient
balance is being undone by a recent and rapid drop in surface pH that could have
devastating global consequences.

CAUSES
 Half of the anthropogenic CO2, resulting from burning of fossil fuels, has been
absorbed over time by the oceans. When carbon dioxide dissolves in this ocean,
carbonic acid is formed. This leads to higher acidity, mainly near the surface,
which has been proven to inhibit shell growth in marine animals and is suspected
as a cause of reproductive disorders in some fish.
 Surface run-off
 Release of carbon trapped in polar regions

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IMPACTS
• Shell-forming animals including corals, oysters, shrimp, lobster, many planktonic
organisms, and even some fish species could be gravely affected.
• As the oceans continue to absorb more CO2, their capacity as a carbon
storehouse could diminish. That means more of the carbon dioxide we emit will
remain in the atmosphere, further aggravating global climate change.
• Photosynthetic algae and seagrasses may benefit from higher CO2 conditions in
the ocean, as they require CO2 to live just like plants on land.
• Many chemical reactions, including those that are essential for life, are sensitive
to small changes in pH. A small change in the pH of seawater can have harmful
effects on marine life, impacting chemical communication, reproduction, and
growth.
• Since sustained efforts to monitor ocean acidification worldwide are only
beginning, it is currently impossible to predict exactly how ocean acidification
impacts will cascade throughout the marine food chain and affect the overall
structure of marine ecosystems.

CONCLUSION
Scientific awareness of ocean acidification is relatively recent, and researchers are just
beginning to study its effects on marine ecosystems. But all signs indicate that unless
humans are able to control and eventually eliminate our fossil fuel emissions, ocean
organisms will find themselves under increasing pressure to adapt to their habitat's
changing chemistry or perish.

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