Meteorologist Jeff Tilley is developing a UAS that could help produce billions of gallons of additional water each month through a process called cloud seeding. Tilley’s current cloud seed generator shoots tiny silver iodide particles into storm clouds to help transform water vapor into snow or rain. The conversion takes about an hour. Over the Sierra Nevada, he said, the cloud seed generator is more successful at higher altitudes. Eventually there’s a limit to how high a land-based instrument can reach — and that’s where UAS come in. Tilley’s team at Nevada’s Desert Research Institute is developing a first-of-its-kind unmanned aircraft for cloud seeding.
Piloted planes have also been used in cloud seeding for more than 60 years. They can produce an additional 1 billion gallons of water for every 25 to 45 hours of flying, but have to stay above the clouds for safety reasons.
It’s a fantastic idea, I live in one of the state’s that’s affected by the drought, we are drying out, in our forest region’s even a spark yes really a spark can start a fire it’s that dry. I hope you get this going now instead of later or in our cases before it’s to late.