How and with what to disperse clouds and rain clouds is a revolutionary invention. How to disperse clouds? How do rain clouds disperse How do clouds disperse in the sky

As many probably remember, Dr. Felix Honniker, the character in Kurt Vonnegut's ironic dystopia Cat's Cradle, created the mysterious and terrible "ice-nine". One had only to throw one crystal of this ice into a puddle, as all the moisture on Earth, including atmospheric, began to crystallize and harden already at a positive temperature. Fiction is fiction, but the creation of Dr. Honniker has some real prototype. The writer himself was inspired by the works of his own brother Bernard, a famous chemist and meteorologist who figured out how to cause artificial rain or snow.

Laboratory Before the start of active influence on the clouds, a reconnaissance of the state of clouds is carried out from a special aircraft-meteorological laboratory. A measuring and computing complex is installed on board the aircraft, which receives and processes information from various sensors

Ice torch The photo shows a liquid nitrogen sprayer installed on the An-26 aircraft

General view of the generator of fine ice particles

Shooting at the clouds In the photo - aircraft devices for firing squibs with silver iodide. Structurally, this "weapon" is similar to installations for shooting false thermal targets.

Ice-forming aerosol generator GLA-105 - based on a 105-mm firework

Based on standard launchers - single-barreled

Based on standard launchers - multi-barreled

More precisely, Bernard Vonnegut was just one of the American scientists working in this field. Another researcher, physicist Vincent Schaefer, experimented with a supercooled cloud artificially created in a chamber (that is, consisting of a water suspension at sub-zero temperatures, but not taking a crystalline form of water suspension). To force the water to change its state of aggregation, he “blew” finely dispersed substances (salt, talc, dust) into the cloud, the particles of which could become crystallization centers. But for some reason they didn't. Finally, Schaefer, having decided that the temperature in the chamber was not low enough, threw a piece of dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide CO2) into it and ... a thick gray fog swirled in the moisture-saturated air, and then it began to snow. Water droplets spontaneously crystallized and precipitated. An effect with a similar result, but of a slightly different nature (we will talk about this later), was also achieved by Bernard Vonnegut - however, with the help of not dry ice, but silver iodide (AgJ). These two laboratory experiments were carried out in 1946 (theoretical work has been carried out both in the USA and in other countries since the beginning of the 20th century). On November 13 of that year, six pounds of dry ice was sprayed from an airplane over a cloud that was floating along the slopes of Mount Greylock in eastern Massachusetts. The cloud was covered with snow. Thus, the first step in the field of active influence on atmospheric processes was taken.

From Chernobyl to Venice

“The first practical work on influencing the weather began in the USSR back in the 1960s,” says Viktor Petrovich Korneev, director of the Autonomous Non-Commercial Association (ANO) “Atmospheric Technologies Agency,” and it so happened historically that we most actively developed technologies for artificially reducing precipitation. Back in the first half of the 1980s, an experimental production laboratory was created at the Moscow City Executive Committee, which, in particular, was tasked with reducing the amount of snow falling over the capital - city leaders wanted to save on cleaning and removal. In addition, during the days of parades and demonstrations on May 1, 9 and November 7, work was organized to improve weather conditions. To do this, it was necessary to make the clouds ‘destined’ for Moscow rain down somewhere outside the ring road.”

A special stage was the liquidation of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Then the task was set to prevent the washout into the Dnieper and Pripyat of radioactive dust covering the soil in the disaster zone. With the help of special reagents, it was possible to bind the dust, protecting it from scattering by the wind. But torrents of rain posed a serious danger. An-12 transport planes and even long-range Tu-95 bombers flying to Chernobyl from the Chkalovsky airfield were sent to fight rain clouds.

At that time, big plans were being made. For example, a project was being worked out to restore the water reserves of the Aral Sea by increasing the level of precipitation in the mountains, from where the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers that fed the dying sea originate. But with the collapse of the USSR, research work in this area has declined sharply. True, as it turned out, Russian technologies turned out to be very interesting for some foreign partners. In the 1990s, work to increase precipitation was carried out in Syria, and in the last decade - in Iran. Our experts also participated in the fog dissipation project on key sections of the Venice-Trieste motorway (Italy) and shared their experience with Chinese colleagues on the eve of the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Russia also periodically has to deal with clouds and fogs. In 1995-1997, the government of Yakutia became interested in the possibility of increasing the amount of precipitation. In the short but hot Siberian summer, this republic experienced a lack of moisture in pastures, which created problems for local livestock breeders. As V.P. Korneev, Moscow specialists who arrived in Yakutia were met by a representative of the regional authorities, an employee of the Institute for the Problems of the North and a local shaman, who very thoughtfully stated his own point of view on the water cycle in nature. However, the most famous and most demanded area of work of ANO "Atmospheric Technologies" and their colleagues from the Central Aerological Observatory is still what is popularly called "cloud dispersal" over large metropolitan areas, and above all over Moscow.

Bringing up the cold

Almost all methods of influencing hydrometeorological processes are based on the use of an unstable state of the cloudy atmosphere. First of all, we are talking about the phase instability of cloudy water - this, as already mentioned, is the presence in clouds that are above the zero isotherm (the so-called height where the atmosphere "passes" through a temperature of 0 ° C), small droplets of moisture, which continues to be a liquid , despite the negative temperature (up to -40°С) of the ambient air. To cause precipitation, it is required to make this water crystallize.

This can be done in two ways: either to sharply cool the cloud by forcing droplets of supercooled moisture to spontaneous crystallization under the action of rapid cooling (refrigerants are used for this), or to introduce crystallization centers into it.

The most popular refrigerants for many decades have been dry ice, which Vincent Schaeffer experimented with, and liquid nitrogen (N2). The evaporation temperature for solid carbon dioxide is -78°C, and for liquid nitrogen -169°C. With all their advantages, refrigerants have a number of disadvantages, therefore, sometimes a reagent is used that has a different mechanism of action - silver iodide (AgJ). The crystals of this substance are almost isomorphic to ice crystals and perfectly serve as crystallization centers for water and steam. This effect was just discovered by Bernard Vonnegut, so that silver iodide can be considered a distant prototype of "ice-nine" from the novel "Cat's Cradle".

As soon as crystals appear in a supercooled cloud, they immediately “eat up” the surrounding vapor; the pressure around the crystal surface drops, which causes the liquid moisture in the cloud to evaporate; the vapor is reabsorbed by the growing crystal, and so on. The heavier crystals are dragged down by the Earth's gravity. With this method it is also possible to prevent the formation of large droplets of supercooled water, which sooner or later can turn into a large hail. In addition, the use of reagents that form crystals from a supercooled liquid can not only cause precipitation, but also ... delay it. If the cloud is "reseeded" with reagents, then due to the occurrence of too high a concentration of crystallization nuclei, precipitation will be slowed down. So the “fair weather specialists” always have a choice: make the cloud rain before the wind drives it over the protected area, or, on the contrary, “reseed” it so that it rains after the cloud has gone away. As a rule, the second method is applied to frontal clouds.

Each type of reagent has its own dispersion technology, or "seeding". Granules of "dry ice" with sizes from 0.2 to 2 cm are obtained directly on board the aircraft by crushing industrial briquettes. This ice crumb is dispersed above the clouds using bunker or auger devices.

To crystallize cloudy water with liquid nitrogen, liquid-nitrogen aircraft generators of fine ice particles GMCHL-A are used. Under pressure, liquid nitrogen is supplied to the atomizer installed overboard the aircraft and discharged into the atmosphere, creating there a “torch” of deeply cooled air with a temperature of -90°C. The water that enters it instantly crystallizes.

For seeding clouds with an aerosol of silver iodide, squibs are used, which are fired by special automatic devices.

cemented sky

Back in the 1950s, at the dawn of Soviet experiments on active influence on atmospheric processes, researchers faced a problem. Only a few minutes after the spraying of the reagents, the crew of the aircraft already found it difficult to identify the processed cloud among many other similar ones. And without this, it was not easy to track the effectiveness of the work and prevent re-seeding. The solution was found in one of the many kerosene shops in those days. Blue was bought there - a powder widely used by housewives for easy tinting of bed linen during boiling and washing. It was assumed that if, together with the reagents, blue was sprayed over the cloud, then a bluish spot would appear on it, which would play the role of a label. However, when it came to practical experiments, it turned out that the clouds, on which the bluing was poured, simply disappeared after a while, dissipated. The disappointment that arose at first was soon replaced by the joy of discovery. After all, as it turned out, a new way of influencing the atmosphere was found - dynamic.

It is mainly used in the fight against cumulonimbus clouds of vertical development (convective clouds). These clouds, rising tall "towers" upward, can be destroyed with the same energy of atmospheric instability that causes them. Simply put, an upward flow of air, as a result of which a convective cloud grows, must be opposed by an oncoming movement, which is capable of destroying this cloud. Such a movement can be created by dropping a coarse powder reagent with the properties of an adsorbent. It can be, for example, salt or, which is most often used in domestic practice, cement. Swelling with moisture, the heavy powder will break through the cloud, dragging droplets of water with it. Cement spraying is used not only in the fight against convective clouds, but also to influence the so-called warm clouds below the zero isotherm. Crystallizing reagents are powerless against them - even liquid nitrogen, which has the highest temperature threshold of activity, can work at a temperature of the cloudy environment not higher than -0.5 ° C.

The use of cement powder as a reagent raises concerns among the general public - shouldn't we all be wearing respirators when the weather is fine for the holidays? “For the respiratory organs, spraying cement does not pose any danger, since after processing the clouds, the concentration of powder particles in the air, already oversaturated with aerosols, is negligible - only 1–2 particles per m3,” V.P. reassures us. Korneev. And yet, this method cannot be recognized as 100% safe. The fact is that the powder reagent is dropped from the aircraft in the form of cardboard and foam containers measuring 26 x 26 x 38 cm and weighing 25-30 kg. The container provides for automatic forced opening, after which it breaks up into fragments that are safe for people and buildings. However, on June 12, 2008, when events were held to ensure sunny weather in Moscow on the occasion of the Day of Russia, an unopened container of cement broke through the roof of a private house in the Narofominsk district of the Moscow region. Fortunately, no one died, but everyone had to make sure once again that there is no fail-safe technology.

Many people are interested in the dispersal of clouds. Indeed, a very interesting topic. How are they dispersed? How much money is spent on this? In general, it is worth noting that you really have to spend a lot. This pleasure is now very expensive. So, one of the last holidays cost the Russian government 430 thousand rubles. This is a very large amount. Many consider it a waste of money. But it's interesting anyway. How to disperse clouds?

On what holidays do clouds disperse?

Let's see what holidays they do it on? And how do rain clouds disperse? In general, the main dates are: May 9, July 12 and the first Saturday of September. It's at four o'clock in the morning the plane takes off. His goal is very simple - to scout the current situation. If there is a threat of rain, then planes with reagents rise. There are also special generators of fine particles. Tanks with reagents are connected to them. After that, under high pressure, they dissipate. As a result, precipitation falls.

When did the clouds begin to disperse?

The first attempts began shortly after World War II. In this area, all the advanced developments went to the Americans. They suggested using two substances - and for these purposes. In the Soviet Union, they began to do this somewhere in the early 60s. That is quite late.

There is nothing difficult in the process. But this process is called a little different. Still, this is not the dispersal of clouds. In fact, the clouds rain down and just disappear. To disperse the clouds in the classical sense of the term, you need to be able to create a very strong wind. Unfortunately, this has not been done yet. By the way, that would be nice. After all, you can save a lot of money in this case. But so far, completely different methods of dispersing clouds are being used.

They can also do this using special self-expanding containers. The technology is cheaper, but there is a risk that they will not open on their own and fall to the ground. And they are far from easy. Therefore, it can even lead to injury. Although these arguments are not so critical due to the fact that it is often necessary to disperse clouds over deserted areas of the country. But if you have to do it over some village, then you need to be more careful.

When did the ability to disperse clouds come in handy in practice?

The ability to disperse clouds in practice was needed after the Chernobyl disaster. The rains were very dangerous at that time. Therefore, it was necessary to be able to create precipitation right in the exclusion zone and in no case allow it to occur in other parts of the planet. It was a very responsible task. That's when there was a really practical benefit to dissipating clouds. Now it doesn't make much sense, to be honest. Although some people may think otherwise. Still, good weather is the key to a great mood.

What reagents are used?

And now we will analyze in more detail how to disperse clouds. What reagents are used to bring this task to life?

A liquid nitrogen.
Dry ice.
Granulated carbon dioxide.
Special cement. This material also raises doubts regarding environmental friendliness.
Silver iodide. It is used in very hopeless cases.

As you can see, a fairly large number of reagents are used to implement this task. It all depends on which cloud layer needs to be dispersed. Also affects what material is used, the type of cloud. Not every cloud can be dispelled, as it turns out. So science still has room to grow. However, the technology for using a substance such as silver iodide is quite new.

Arguments for the dispersal of clouds

Naturally, there are defenders and opponents of dispersal of clouds. And there is nothing strange here. This procedure is really ambiguous. For objectivity, it is necessary to consider the arguments of both sides. And you yourself decide. So, the clouds need to be dispersed, because:

Good weather improves mood. And these are not unfounded statements. Indeed, under the influence of light, and even more so the sun's rays, the level of serotonin in the blood of a person increases. It is called the "happiness hormone". Consequently, the feeling of the holiday is enhanced.
No activities in which money was invested will fail. This is especially true as an argument against supporters of the opinion that the cost of overclocking is very high. In general, holidays cost a lot of money. Is there any point in doing them then?
Shows the technological level of the country. It's more about foreign policy. Although this argument is rather dubious. But since some people use it, it makes sense to include it here.

There are quite a few reasons. Indeed, they are quite weighty for some people. Especially if there are some outdoor events.

Arguments against dispersal of clouds

There are also arguments of people who do not care how to disperse the clouds, if it is so expensive. For them, simply knowing the amount that will have to be spent on it is enough. At the same time, there are more loyal people who are still against it. But it is not so categorical. What arguments do they have?

The cost does not justify the results. Everything is extremely simple here. The money that is spent on such work can be used in a more constructive direction. For example, you can implement the construction of new parking lots or interchanges. These are more constructive elements. Or, for example, you can improve the sewerage and rainwater drainage system. Global warming is on the rise right now. Therefore, the precipitation became more extensive. Soon the city sewer will not be able to withstand such stress. But people want clear skies. In general, a controversial decision. Still, the question "how much does it cost to disperse the clouds" comes first.
Problems with ecology. Some people believe that reagents are not environmentally friendly. Of course, this is a moot point. Many researchers say that there is nothing wrong with that. But sometimes farms suffer because of the dispersal of clouds. Many villagers complain that when they carry out these works, they just need rain. And the clouds never reach the fields, spilling over the city. Everything must take its course in nature. Now it is not known exactly what the fallout of such heavy precipitation can lead to locally. The same applies to the effects of these reagents on humans. After all, mercury and radiation were previously considered safe. But then these theses were refuted.

In general, the arguments are no less weighty than those of supporters. We figured out how to disperse clouds. It turns out that there is nothing very complicated about this. If you have money, you can do the same. After all, now you also know how clouds disperse. Over Moscow, you have to do this quite often, especially on a cloudy rainy autumn.

Clouds over Moscow, if necessary, disperse up to 12 aircraft of the Air Force (Air Force) of the Russian Federation, equipped with special equipment for influencing clouds. To carry out these works, together with the Agency for Atmospheric Technologies of Roshydromet, the best crews on the An-12, An-26, An-28, An-32, Il-18 and Su-30 aircraft, who have experience in performing work on the impact on clouds, were selected.
Their compartments contain systems that include "Dewar vessels" for transporting and spraying liquid nitrogen. From the outside, in the tail section, some aircraft are equipped with special devices designed to shoot cartridges containing a silver compound.
The work is carried out from the Chkalovsky airfield and about 280 tons of environmentally friendly reagents are dropped in the vicinity of the capital.
The task of impact operators is to get to the very center of the cloud so that the reagents absorb the maximum amount of moisture and thus provoke rain in the planned area. Clouds are processed not over Moscow, but around it, within a radius of 300 kilometers. It turns out that a kind of “umbrella” appears over the capital. Cloud dispersal efficiency is high, but no one gives a 100% guarantee.
Roshydromet specialists and the military say they are using environmentally friendly substances: carbon dioxide and silver iodide. Cloudless weather in Moscow may last two or three days after the “impact”.

Dmitry Pichugin - Russian AviaPhoto Team - Antonov An-26

Dmitry Pichugin - Russian AviaPhoto Team - Antonov An-28

Teemu Tuuri - FAP - Antonov An-32A

They were undertaken by meteorologists back in the days of the USSR. Back in the 1970s, special Tu-16 Cyclone jet aircraft, created on the basis of the Tu-16 strategic bomber, were used for this. The Russian cloud dispersal service is considered one of the best in the world.

The technology for creating favorable weather conditions was developed in 1990 by specialists from the State Committee for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Control (Goskomgidromet), and since 1995, after the first large-scale application during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Victory, it has been widely used.

Migmar Pinigin, head of the atmospheric air hygiene laboratory at the Research Institute of Human Ecology and Environmental Hygiene of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, said that liquid nitrogen is a gas of the same name concentrated at low temperatures, the content of which in the atmosphere is about 78%. According to him, "the question of the harmfulness of this reagent disappears by itself." As for granular carbon dioxide, its formula - CO2 - coincides with the formula of carbon dioxide, which is also present in the atmosphere. Aleksey Kokorin, head of the climate program of the World Wildlife Fund, assured that people are not threatened even by the spraying of cement powder: "When dispersing clouds, we are talking about minimal doses."

The reagent exists in the atmosphere for less than a day. After entering the cloud, it is washed out of it along with precipitation, meteorologists are sure.

According to Alexander Drobyshevsky, assistant commander-in-chief of the Air Force, "the use of reagents, in terms of pollution, does not affect the state of the earth's surface in any way. The number of reagent particles falling per unit area of the earth is negligible, it is hundreds of times less than the natural level of dust deposition."

However, this technique also has its opponents. So, ecologists from the public organization "Ecodefense" argue that there is a certain relationship between the dispersal of clouds and heavy rains that fall in the following days. According to Vladimir Slivyak, head of the organization, "modern science is not yet able to talk about the consequences of such an intervention, and they can be very different." In this regard, the position of environmentalists is unequivocal: "Such actions must be stopped." No less unambiguous is the answer of meteorologists. According to Valery Stasenko, head of the Department for Monitoring Geophysical Processes, Active Influences and State Supervision of Roshydromet, "the conclusions of environmentalists that rainy weather is a consequence of our activities are nothing more than speculation. To draw such conclusions, it is necessary to measure the level of aerosol in the atmosphere, its concentration, establish the type of aerosol. Without these data, such statements are unfounded. "

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Does everyone know how the clouds disperse over Moscow?

We are used to the fact that on the days of big holidays, Moscow parades and festivities are not overshadowed by bad weather. The technology of local weather improvement is well developed today, although the history of this direction goes back centuries.

Everything depends on the weather!
Any news includes a weather forecast, too much depends on it. Our ancestors prayed for rain and tried to make clouds rain with bells. With the advent of artillery, they began to shoot at the clouds carrying hail to save the crop. But the success of these attempts was unpredictable: sometimes it worked, sometimes not. Modern science has learned to control the weather at least locally. Many are interested in the question of how the clouds are dispersed over Moscow and do they really do it? Is it possible to disperse clouds in any other place? Isn't it harmful? Doesn't this spoil the climate in neighboring areas?

Ahead of the whole planet!
Russian researchers have learned to control the weather better than others. Foreign countries only adopt domestic experience. Closely dealt with the issue of weather control in the Soviet Union in the 40-50s of the last century. At first, the dispersal of clouds was purely utilitarian: in the spirit of that time, they wanted to make the sky spill over agricultural land. The work went well, and weather control ceased to be a utopia. The accumulated knowledge was useful later in the days of the Chernobyl disaster. The goal of the scientists was to save the Dnieper from radioactive contamination. The attempt was successful. If not for the efforts of scientists and the military, the size of the disaster would have been much greater.
How are the clouds dispersing over Moscow today? In general, the same as 60 years ago.

Cloud dispersal technology.
The first step is to determine how far the rain clouds are from the desired location. An accurate forecast is needed 48 hours before the estimated time, for example, before the parade. Then they study the composition and characteristics of the clouds: each of them needs its own reagent. The meaning of the technology is that a reagent is placed in the center of the cloud, on which moisture sticks. When the amount of concentrated moisture becomes critical, it starts to rain. The cloud sheds before the place where the cloud was directed along the air currents.

The following substances are used as reagents: dry ice (carbon dioxide) in granules; silver iodide; a liquid nitrogen; cement.

How do clouds disperse over Moscow?
To do this, clouds are processed at a distance of 50 or 100 km from the place where rain is not needed. Dry ice is used for stratus clouds closest to the ground. This composition is poured onto clouds at an altitude of several thousand meters. Special navigation is applied, processed clouds are marked so that there is no re-impact. The nimbostratus clouds, located above, get liquid nitrogen, or rather the crystals of its soaring. Special large-capacity Dewars are installed on the aircraft, and liquid nitrogen is sprayed over the cloud. This is how clouds are dispersed in Moscow with the help of well-known chemistry.

Silver iodide is placed in special weather cartridges and fired at high rain clouds. These dense clouds are composed of ice crystals and their lifetime does not exceed 4 hours. The chemical structure of silver iodide is very similar to ice crystals. After falling into a rain cloud, pockets of condensation quickly form around it, and soon it rains. At the same time, there may be a thunderstorm or even hail, such is the property of these clouds.
However, this is an incomplete answer to the question of how the clouds disperse over Moscow. Sometimes dry cement is also used. A package of cement (standard paper bag) is attached to the hook. The impact of the air flow gradually breaks the paper, and the cement is gradually blown out. There is a connection with water, and drops fall to the ground. Cement is used to treat updrafts of air to stop cloud formation.

Is it harmful to disperse the clouds?
This issue is constantly discussed by residents of the regions bordering the Moscow region, especially the Smolensk region. The logic is simple: as the clouds disperse over Moscow on May 9, so it rains endlessly. It would seem that the reagents cannot bring much harm, these substances have long been well studied. However, to disperse clouds, up to 50 tons of reagents are used at a time. To date, there are no studies that could prove or disprove the harm done to nature. Ecologists say that the chronology of rainfall is broken, and that's it.

Even lawsuits for moral damages have been recorded, but not a single lawsuit has been satisfied so far. The dissatisfaction of the inhabitants of the Moscow region is explained very simply: they feel they are unequal citizens. Residents of cities and towns surrounding Moscow are forced to spend all more or less significant holidays with rain, even if there was no precipitation according to the forecast. At the same time, people recognize that the dispersal of clouds is simply necessary in the event of a threat to crops or housing, when a hurricane or hail is expected. A large number of residents are disgusted by the way they disperse the clouds in Moscow for the holidays, because they have the same holiday turned out to be completely spoiled.