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Special Issue "Weather Modification and Small-Scale Geoengineering: Theory, Practice and Technology"

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A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Meteorology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 April 2023) | Viewed by 5144

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ali M. Abshaev

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Guest Editor

Hail Suppression Research Center Antigrad, 360004 Nalchik, Russia
Interests: cloud physics; weather modification; radar meteorology; atmospheric processes

Dr. Thara Prabhakaran
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, Maharashtra 411008, India
Interests: cloud microphysics; boundary-layer physics

Prof. Dr. Roelof Burger

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
Interests: air pollution; climate change; severe weather; cloud seeding

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The threats of climate variability and change have reignited the debate on intentional weather modification and small-scale geoengineering. Alternative strategies to mitigate the impacts of severe weather on society are being explored. In the past few decades, the number of severe and adverse weather events has increased several times in many regions. World losses from natural disasters are currently estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars. According to World Meteorological Organization, more than 50 countries are conducting research and operational projects on hail suppression, precipitation enhancement, improvement of weather conditions, as well as fog and smog dispersion. Several studies have announced promising figures regarding the potential for local temperature amelioration. This Special Issue aims to uncover new findings in weather modification science, present insights from advanced weather models and experiments, explore emerging technological insights, debate the ethical implications of these technologies, and provide direction for the future development of the field. Original scientific contributions that describe experiments and modelling studies, as well as those reviewing the potential impacts and ethical implications, will be considered.

Dr. Ali M. Abshaev
Dr. Thara Prabhakaran
Prof. Dr. Roelof Burger
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

weather modification
cloud seeding
hail suppression
rain enhancement
rain redistribution
fog dispersion
frost mitigation
suppression of lightning activity
seeding materials
efficacy assessment
small-scale geoengineering
temperature amelioration
technical systems and instruments
numerical simulations
cloud chambers
cloud micro- and macrophysics

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Results of Field Experiments for the Creation of Artificial Updrafts and Clouds

Alexander E. Shchelyaev

and

Atmosphere 2023, 14(1), 136; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14010136 - 08 Jan 2023

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Abstract

This study documents results from a series of field experiments on the creation of artificial updrafts and convective clouds at a test site in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The proposed method incorporates a vertically directed jet from an aircraft turbojet engine saturated with active hygroscopic aerosols for the purpose of energetically feeding the jet with water vapor condensation heat below cloud base level. This paper presents the description and main characteristics of the experimental equipment, methodology of experiments and atmospheric conditions, analysis of the obtained results, and prospects for further development of the proposed method. On the whole, the experiments showed that under the conditions of low air humidity, typical for the UAE, and the slowness of the condensation process, the replenishment of the jet energy by the heat of condensation is too small, and the power of the used jet engine in the experiments is insufficient to overcome surface temperature inversions, horizontal winds, and initiation of deep convection. Nevertheless, the results of field experiments and numerical simulation made it possible to outline promising directions for further research on improving the considered method for creating artificial clouds and precipitation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Weather Modification and Small-Scale Geoengineering: Theory, Practice and Technology)

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Open AccessArticle

Numerical Simulations of Cloud Number Concentration and Ice Nuclei Influence on Cloud Processes and Seeding Effects

and

Atmosphere 2022, 13(11), 1792; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13111792 - 29 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 708

Abstract

Aerosols, through cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) or ice nuclei (IN), affect cloud microphysics. With increasing concentrations of aerosols, it is important to consider the impact of IN along with CCN on clouds and precipitation in numerical simulations; further, aerosols may also affect the weather-modification seeding effect. On the basis of the observation of natural IN concentration and cloud-drop number concentrations, numerical sensitivity experiments for a snowfall case were designed to study the effects of parameters of IN and cloud number concentrations at the cloud base to consider the CCN effects on clouds and precipitation as well as weather-modification seeding effects. Generally, with smaller cloud-drop number concentration, the mass contents were much lower. With more ice nuclei, more ice crystals were able to nucleate, and additional snow particles were generated through ice crystals. Cloud-drop number concentrations heavily affected the location and amount of snowfall. During the 1e9 test, 2.4 mm was the highest reduction in the amount of snowfall; additionally, the amount of snowfall from the combined impacts of increased IN and cloud-drop number decreased in wide areas, and its maximum precipitation reduction exceeded 2.7 mm as well as up to 15% of the daily amount of snowfall. More IN reduced the artificial seeding effect, lowered the increase in snowfall in the center of the seeding, and lowered the reduction of snowfall in the reduction center of the seeding. With more IN, the seeding effect was able to shift approximately 0.6% from the 3.9% seeding effect of the control simulation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Weather Modification and Small-Scale Geoengineering: Theory, Practice and Technology)

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Open AccessArticle

Hygroscopic Ground-Based Generator Cloud Seeding Design; A Case Study from the 2020 Weather Modification in Larona Basin Indonesia

Halda Aditya Belgaman

and

Atmosphere 2022, 13(6), 968; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13060968 - 15 Jun 2022

Viewed by 1714

Abstract

Cloud seeding activities have been carried out in the form of experiments and operation activities as part of water resource management in some parts of the world. Recently, a new method of cloud seeding using a ground-based generator (GBG) was introduced in Indonesia. This method is used to seed orographic clouds with the aid of a 50 m GBG tower located in a mountainous area. By taking advantage of the topography and local circulation, the GBG tower will introduce hygroscopic seeding materials into orographic clouds to accelerate the collision and coalescence process within the clouds, increasing the cloud’s rainfall amount. The hygroscopic ground-based cloud seeding was conducted over the Larona Basin in Sulawesi, Indonesia, from December 2019 to April 2020. There were five towers installed around Larona Basin, located over 500 m above sea level. The results show that there was an increase in monthly rainfall amount from the GBG operation period in January, February, and March compared to its long-term average of as much as 79%, 17%, and 46%, respectively. Meanwhile, despite an increase of 0.4% in Lake Towuti water level, it is still not concluded that the GBG cloud seeding operation was involved in the lake water level raise. Therefore, more studies need to be performed in the future to answer whether the cloud seeding affected the lake water level. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Weather Modification and Small-Scale Geoengineering: Theory, Practice and Technology)

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Special Issue "Weather Modification and Small-Scale Geoengineering: Theory, Practice and Technology"

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