A cloud seeding experiment carried out in Solapur city, which falls on the leeward side of the Western Ghats and hence gets low rainfall — 384 mm and 422 mm of total rainfall during the period June to September 2018 and 2019, respectively — was able to achieve 18% relative enhancement in rainfall, which is approximately 8.67mm more rainfall. The relative enhancement of accumulated rainfall was seen over two hours after seeding the clouds. In all, the total enhancement of water availability through cloud seeding experiments was 867 million litres. The results of the study were published recently in the journal Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
The experiment — Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment (CAIPEEX phase-4) — was a scientific investigation conducted in Solapur city during the summer monsoon period of 2018 and 2019. The primary objective was to investigate the efficacy of hygroscopic seeding in deep convective clouds and to develop a cloud seeding protocol. The experiment used two aircraft for studying various cloud parameters and for seeding the clouds.
