In comments on Saturday, Farid Golkar said his organization works in cooperation
with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force to carry out
cloud seeding projects across the country.
The operations will be performed with planes in the provinces of Yazd,
Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Kohgiluye and Boyer-Ahmad, Isfahan, Khuzestan, Kerman
and Fars, he added, saying drones will be flown for cloud seeding in the
provinces of South Khorasan, East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan.
If financed, the project will include ground-based generators in the western
province of Kermanshah, Golkar noted.
In January, IRGC Aerospace Force Commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh
voiced readiness to help the Energy Ministry to carry out cloud seeding
operations, saying his forces were at the Iranian nation’s service and would
mobilize all equipment to help the administration.
It came after frequent droughts and low rainfall in Iran in last autumn forced
the administration to opt for cloud seeding in the hope of squeezing more
precipitation out of the atmosphere.
Cloud seeding originated in the US in the 1940s. The method generally used in
the winter involves ground-based generators set at high elevations that are
literally fired up to release plumes containing silver iodide crystals into
storm clouds. When water vapor or droplets attach to the silver iodide crystal,
latent heat is also released, and it increases cloud size and the duration of
storms.
Global warming has forced many arid and semi-arid areas around the world,
including Iran, to suffer from drought.
Source:Tasnim