New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur said in a statement that a scheduled cloud-seeding trial in Delhi on Tuesday has been postponed because of insufficient atmospheric moisture. The project, which aims to create artificial rainfall in order to counteract increasing pollution levels, is highly dependent on favourable cloud and humidity conditions.
Professor Manindra Agrawal, the director of IIT Kanpur, stated that although the trial did not yield the “desired results,” it did yield useful information for improving operations going forward. In order to measure atmospheric moisture and air quality, the institute established 15 monitoring stations throughout Delhi. Agrawal claims that the experiment showed a 6 to 10 per cent decrease in PM2.5 and PM10 levels, indicating a partial effect even in low-moisture settings.
“The cloud moisture was very low, around 15 per cent, so the chances of inducing rain were small,” he explained. “However, even a limited impact gives us useful insights to plan more effective seeding in the future.”
In order to cover regions like Khekra, Burari, North Karol Bagh, Mayur Vihar, Sadakpur, and Bhojpur, two aircraft were launched from IIT Kanpur and Meerut airfields on October 28. Eight flares, each weighing roughly 0.5 kg, were released during each sortie, dispersing a mixture that was specially created to increase the likelihood of precipitation.
Officials confirmed that there were light showers in certain parts of Noida and Greater Noida, despite the fact that Delhi did not receive any rainfall. Even though there was little to no rainfall, the data collected has been considered scientifically valuable.
Professor Agrawal underlined that there is a chance of failure and risk when conducting experiments. The cost of seeding a 300 square kilometre area is about Rs 60 lakh, which is small in comparison to Delhi’s pollution control expenses, he said, adding that “if we fear failure and don’t conduct experiments, we won’t progress”.
IIT Kanpur added that once atmospheric moisture improves, the next round of cloud-seeding will be rescheduled.