New Delhi, Oct 28(UNI) In order to tackle’s national capital's air pollution woes, two rounds of artificial cloud seeding trials were conducted on Tuesday, updated state government's Environment Minister Manjinder Singh.
The minister, in a video post on a social media handle, stated that the second artificial seeding trials were conducted in the national capital today. IIT Kanpur’s Cessna aircraft took flight from Kanpur via Meerut and flew over Delhi’s Khekra, Burari, North Karol Bagh, Mayur Vihar, Sadakpur, and Bhojpur areas, spreading the cloud seeding contents through flares.
Experts from IIT Kanpur confirmed that two flights from the institute’s airstrip flew on Tuesday afternoon, one at 12:15 pm and the second one at 3:55 pm. During the first flight, six flares were released at an altitude of nearly 4,000 feet above ground level with a total burn duration of 18.5 minutes, according to a statement from the IIT, Kanpur. The second flight deployed eight flares at a slightly higher altitude of 5000-6000 feet, experts noted.
“We are now closely monitoring the weather,” experts conducting the trials added.
Noting the weather department’s prediction of northward winds in Delhi, Sirsa said that owing to the winds, the clouds will migrate anywhere in the outer region of the city.
Commenting on the likelihood and amount of rainfall, the minister said that the team of experts from IIT is expecting rainfall anytime in the next few hours. “They have given a window between 15 minutes to 4 hours after the release of seeding contents as the likely period for rain,” he added.
Given that the moisture content of the clouds formed with the trial was low, ranging between 15-20 per cent, the rainfall amount is unpredictable; it could be scant or high. “We are indeed testing the feasibility of inducing rain with such low content of moisture,” Sirsa said.
Hoping for success, the minister announced, “If successful, then we will create a long-term plan for cloud seeding until February.” In the coming days, we will continue these trials, sending 9-10 sorties depending on the weather conditions, the minister added.
Last week, the first trial of cloud seeding was conducted on Thursday, October 23, over the Burari region in North Delhi. However, low atmospheric moisture of less than 20 percent failed to induce rain. According to experts, at least 50 per cent is required to induce artificial rains through cloud seeding.
Speaking to an agency, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said, "Cloud seeding is a necessity for Delhi and is the first experiment of its kind. We want to try it in Delhi to see if it can help us control this very serious environmental problem."
Following the afternoon trials, none of the districts in Delhi reported episodes of rainfall, according to the data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) until 6:15 pm on Tuesday. The maximum temperature for the city witnessed a significant drop of 4.6 degrees Celsius from normal, settling at 26.4 degrees Celsius at Delhi’s base station, while the minimum climbed to 20 degrees Celsius, departing 3.9 degrees from normal.
The humidity in Delhi over the past 24 hours ranged between 63 per cent and 91 per cent, according to the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) weather bulletin issued at 6:15 p.m. The city witnessed an overcast sky throughout the day. The Met department has forecast cloudy to partly cloudy conditions for the next two days.
Meanwhile, the national capital’s air quality improved slightly on Tuesday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s 4 p.m. AQI bulletin. The 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 294, down from 301 on Monday, bringing Delhi’s air back to the ‘poor’ category after nearly six consecutive days of ‘very poor’ air.

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