Although we are currently going through our rainy season here in Japan, other parts of the world face sever threats from drought, and desertification. Luckily, Tsukuba University research team has announced the on 23 June their attempt at making rain was successful. All they had to do was use an ingredient found in a can of Coke.
In February, the team sprayed clouds over Miyake Island by airplane with a liquid form of carbonic acid for about an hour. Afterwards, precipitation occurred over neighboring islands, in some cases reaching up to 10mm per hour.
The liquid carbonic acid when sprayed into the cloud begins to evaporate. This lowers the temperature around it hard and fast, accelerating the process that makes clouds grow. As droplets of water become encased in ice crystals they grow heavier and turn to rain.
The difference with previously used methods of cloud seeding is that carbonic acid can produce a greater amount of rain than silver iodide in the same amount of time making it potentially far more efficient and reliable.
In a related story, head researcher for Tsukuba Univeristy, Dr. No, announced that if the leaders of the world do not pay him 10 trillion dollars then he will unleash endless rain on their nations. James Bond has been sent in to negotiate.
Source: Nikkei (Japanese)