Weather Manipulation (Individual Project)

Bacayo, Jay Anne R.
2013-44153
STS THX

Weather: No Longer Completely Natural

With the help of rapid developments in science and technology, several researches and experiments have been made to create tools and discover methods, which could modify the weather. Most people don’t even think that being able to influence weather conditions is possible. Unbeknownst to them, weather manipulation was already in the works during the 1940’s, the time of the Cold War. Countries, most especially the U.S., became interested in a “climatic warfare”. During the Vietnam War, which was part of the Cold War, the U.S. had a secret project called “Operation Popeye” that used cloud seeding as an attempt to enhance precipitation and eventually interfere with the activities of its enemy, Vietnam. 

At present, the tools and techniques, other than cloud seeding, that can be used include ionization generators and hail cannons. The ionization generators inject ions on aerosols and clouds to influence cloud formation and artificially induce rainfall and even storms. Hail cannons aim to stop hail formation in order to protect crops and other objects. 

Those who are in favour of weather manipulation boast of its potential. It could help agriculture since the people can select weather that is desirable for growing crops. The precipitation enhancement caused by weather manipulation could also ensure sufficient water supply. This could lead to a boost in agriculture and the economy. This could also aid the military to make sure that their plans would not be deterred by the weather. Extreme weather-related conditions like typhoons, tornadoes and tsunamis could be avoided in order to save the lives of many people and also their properties.

On the other hand, those who are against this fear its consequences. They say that weather modification could possibly destroy the ecological balance. They claim that it is a form of interference with a natural process thus, instead of providing improvement, it could backfire and cause damage. People also fear that weather modification would yield long-term results that would be hard to reverse, in case the results are not favourable. 

They also say that weather modification poses some ethical problems. There is a question of authority. Who has the power to make decisions regarding the weather? The government officials? The ordinary citizens? Another issue is regarding motives. There is a risk that weather manipulation would not only be used for the development of the lives of the people and in aspects like agriculture but also for political purposes. 

Experiments are still being made now to further develop weather manipulation tools and even though the whole field of weather modification has not yielded official proven results, its success in the future is still very likely and possible. Maybe someday, the weather will no longer be unpredictable and always subject to change. Maybe it will no longer be a completely natural process but already something manipulated completely by man. 

References:

American Meteorological Society. "Planned Weather Modification through Cloud Seeding" American Meteorological Society, n.d. Web. 4 March 2014.  

Gelt, Joe. "Weather Modification: A Water Resource Strategy to be Researched, Tested Before Tried" Water Resources Research Center. 1 March 1992. Web. 23 February 2014.