The Crossbill News Desk
An ambitious experiment by researchers from IIT Kanpur to create artificial rain over Delhi to tackle the city’s worsening air pollution ended in failure last Tuesday (October 29).
The team proceeded with the cloud seeding operation despite the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warning that atmospheric conditions were unsuitable.
A Cessna aircraft made two sorties over the capital, dispersing a ten-kilogram mixture of silver iodide and salt into the sky, but the attempt failed to produce any rainfall. This was the first-ever effort to induce rain artificially in Delhi to improve air quality.
The failure followed clear advisories from both the IMD and the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), which had informed IIT Kanpur that there were “no clouds” or that they were insufficient for the procedure to succeed.
“We shared information with them on the cloud situation but didn’t give any specific input on whether they should go ahead,” a senior MoES scientist told The Hindu, adding, “We didn’t give any advice because … there were no clouds.”
Despite the poor forecast, IIT Kanpur director Manindra Agrawal defended the decision, saying it was “deliberate” and meant to test the team’s “proprietary solution.”
He acknowledged that moisture levels were low but said data collection was the primary goal.
“It may not have worked in India but it has in China and the United Arab Emirates,” Agrawal stated.
Cloud seeding involves dispersing certain chemicals into clouds to induce rainfall artificially. It has been used globally to bring rain to drought-hit regions and is sometimes considered a temporary measure to combat severe air pollution.
However, experts remain divided on its effectiveness. A major Indian experiment in 2017 to boost monsoon rains in Maharashtra found that seeded clouds yielded 46% more rainfall than unseeded ones — though the conditions were very different.
When it comes to addressing air pollution, however, scientists have expressed scepticism. As Shamim Haque Mondal of the State Forensic Science Laboratory in Kolkata has argued, artificial rain “doesn’t help in the long run unless the cause of the problem is entirely removed.”
Studies have also warned that prolonged exposure to chemicals used in cloud seeding, such as silver iodide, could pose risks to human health and the environment.
The team proceeded with the cloud seeding operation despite the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warning that atmospheric conditions were unsuitable.
A Cessna aircraft made two sorties over the capital, dispersing a ten-kilogram mixture of silver iodide and salt into the sky, but the attempt failed to produce any rainfall. This was the first-ever effort to induce rain artificially in Delhi to improve air quality.
The failure followed clear advisories from both the IMD and the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), which had informed IIT Kanpur that there were “no clouds” or that they were insufficient for the procedure to succeed.
“We shared information with them on the cloud situation but didn’t give any specific input on whether they should go ahead,” a senior MoES scientist told The Hindu, adding, “We didn’t give any advice because … there were no clouds.”
Despite the poor forecast, IIT Kanpur director Manindra Agrawal defended the decision, saying it was “deliberate” and meant to test the team’s “proprietary solution.”
He acknowledged that moisture levels were low but said data collection was the primary goal.
“It may not have worked in India but it has in China and the United Arab Emirates,” Agrawal stated.
Cloud seeding involves dispersing certain chemicals into clouds to induce rainfall artificially. It has been used globally to bring rain to drought-hit regions and is sometimes considered a temporary measure to combat severe air pollution.
However, experts remain divided on its effectiveness. A major Indian experiment in 2017 to boost monsoon rains in Maharashtra found that seeded clouds yielded 46% more rainfall than unseeded ones — though the conditions were very different.
When it comes to addressing air pollution, however, scientists have expressed scepticism. As Shamim Haque Mondal of the State Forensic Science Laboratory in Kolkata has argued, artificial rain “doesn’t help in the long run unless the cause of the problem is entirely removed.”
Studies have also warned that prolonged exposure to chemicals used in cloud seeding, such as silver iodide, could pose risks to human health and the environment.
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