Pakistan has used artificial rain for the first time in history to combat dangerous levels of pollution in Lahore, according to the provincial government.
Aerial cloud seeding operations were carried out on Saturday over the provincial capital, often ranked as the most polluted city in the world, including on the cloud seeding day.
“Today, by the grace of God, Pakistan’s first artificial rain was induced,” caretaker chief minister of Punjab, Mohsin Naqvi told a news conference in Lahore. “We fired 48 flares for cloud seeding in the first mission which was carried out in the morning, and the second mission will take off shortly.”
The authorities monitored the impact of artificial rain in a radius of 15km (nine miles), said Naqvi, sharing that “It drizzled in at least 10 areas of Lahore.”
Cloud seeding experiment conducted with the assistance of UAE
The experiment was carried out with the help of the government of the United Arab Emirates, according to the Punjab caretaker chief minister.
“This was a gift from the UAE government,” he continued. “They managed everything for us. Our people were working with them.”
A team of experts from the UAE had been waiting in the city for at least two weeks. On Saturday, 48 flares were deployed for cloud seeding.
Naqvi informed that the Emirati government had sent two special planes equipped with cloud-seeding equipment as well as a technical team to perform the experiment. The team of experts waited in Lahore at least two weeks before successfully deploying 48 flares for cloud seeding on Saturday.
“Teams from the UAE, along with two planes, arrived here about 10 to 12 days ago. They used 48 flares to create the rain,” Naqvi said.
“We kept it quiet since it involved another country and we didn’t want any negativity if the arrangement didn’t work out for some reason. We are all very happy. It was an experiment which was necessary for us to prevent the smog in the future.”
What is cloud seeding?
Cloud seeding, also known as artificial rain or blueskying, is a technique that involves burning silver iodide, a yellowish salt, in clouds alongside acetone to stimulate condensation and precipitation to form rain. The UAE has a vast experience of using cloud seeding to induce rain in its arid regions.
The caretaker Punjab CM reassured about the safety of artificial rain, citing more than 1000 missions conducted by the UAE annually. He further mentioned that various other countries, including the United States, China, and India, also use similar technologies to induce rain.
Air pollution has worsened in Pakistan in recent years, as a mixture of low-grade diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal crop burn and colder winter temperatures coalesce into stagnant clouds of smog.
Increasing air pollution levels in Lahore
Air pollution in Pakistan has worsened in recent years due to a mixture of low-grade diesel emissions, seasonal crop burning smoke, and colder winter conditions, creating stagnant smog clouds.
Lahore, housing over 11 million residents, faces the worst impact, with PM2.5 pollutants levels surpassing WHO danger levels by over 66 times on Saturday. Breathing this toxic smog poses severe health risks, including heart disease, strokes, lung cancer, and respiratory illnesses, as highlighted by the WHO.