Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

China Is Building a Rain-Making System Three Times as Big as Spain

scmp.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 155 posts

Re: China Is Building a Rain-Making System Three Times as Big as Spain

#141

Post by spiderfarmer »

arien wrote: post #78
spiderfarmer wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The condition of the roads and infrastructure in a large part of the US is very, very bad when compared to countries like the Netherlands. It’s like the US is a superpower with third world infrastructure.

Maintenance of old infrastructure in large projects is difficult and budget for this purpose is hard to justify, while building new things gets harder due to (self imposed) new regulations and higher costs (outsourcing might be cheaper, but always has some risks...). I don't know, sounds very familiar :)

I’ll float an idea that will cost me karma: you could raise taxes.

Re: China Is Building a Rain-Making System Three Times as Big as Spain

#142

Post by sametmax »

unsigner wrote: post #137
sametmax wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's more, local weather is always existing in a global context. When they'll modify the meteorology at the scale of their country, it may very well impact the climate of the entire planet. Water must come from somewhere. Air current will be impacted. And temperature deltas. It's very concerning.

How dare they think of their own country! Those are trully irresponsible national leaders.

There is a huge gap between doing something that will improve your situation only, and one that does at the expense of everyone else.

Re: China Is Building a Rain-Making System Three Times as Big as Spain

#143

Post by ThrustVectoring »

hyperpallium wrote: post #3

I've always thought Australia should build a giant canal from the Great Australia Bite up through central Australia. Perhaps forming a permanent inland sea. The sea water evaporating would fall as rain (not sure where , though...). A question for this article is who would have gotten that rain had it not been seeded.

The Qattara Depression in Egypt should probably get dug to the sea first. It's significantly deeper, which would allow you to generate significant amounts of hydroelectric power by flooding the depression.

Re: China Is Building a Rain-Making System Three Times as Big as Spain

#144

Post by XR0CSWV3h3kZWg »

truculation wrote: post #124
AlexC04 wrote: post #90

Under the guidelines of the Clean Water Act by the EPA, silver iodide is considered a hazardous substance, a priority pollutant, and as a toxic pollutant.(10) Some industries have learned this all too well. ... If the toxicity manifests in pollution and illnesses, the effects may not be reversible ... http://www.ranches.org/cloudseedingharmful.htm So.... this doesn't seem like the best idea.

Regardless of the merits or demerits of this particular scheme, I admire the spirit. With a fraction of such confidence we could revive the Neanderthals, build an asteroid defence system, clean up the oceans, on and on. Instead we're not trying much. We feel ashamed... because... why?

Unintended consequences.

Communist party of china has a pretty bad history of large unintended consequences from their actions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy#Effects

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution#Policy_and...

Re: China Is Building a Rain-Making System Three Times as Big as Spain

#145

Post by XR0CSWV3h3kZWg »

titzer wrote: post #44
saagarjha wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "stolen" rainfall doesn't have to be spatial, necessarily; it could be temporal as well. It might provide a way to control seasonal floods caused by excessive rainfall during a short period.

It's hard to see how moisture can stay in the air for months at a time, but I am not a climate scientist, so who knows.

Air contains water. The amount it contains is defined by pressure, temperature and availability.

Re: China Is Building a Rain-Making System Three Times as Big as Spain

#146

Post by deephoney »

blacksmith_tb wrote: post #132
RobertRoberts wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At what cost? Some cultures do not value the health and life of the every day person. I don't think that is something to be honored or respected.

While clearly true, I think we'd have to rephrase that as "all cultures" - here in the US people are sleeping on the sidewalk outside my office. In the PRC, they're willing to gamble on geoengineering which could poison people (just not people in power). I can't think of any current society that really values every member - but we can keep working towards that goal...

Scandinavian societies are pretty good at looking after everyone "in" the society, though for outsiders things can be hit and miss.

Re: China Is Building a Rain-Making System Three Times as Big as Spain

#147

Post by saagarjha »

titzer wrote: post #44
saagarjha wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "stolen" rainfall doesn't have to be spatial, necessarily; it could be temporal as well. It might provide a way to control seasonal floods caused by excessive rainfall during a short period.

It's hard to see how moisture can stay in the air for months at a time, but I am not a climate scientist, so who knows.

You don’t necessarily need to keep water in the air, either. You can just cause it to drop out en route before it floods a particular area.

Re: China Is Building a Rain-Making System Three Times as Big as Spain

#149

Post by cbHXBY1D »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #143
hyperpallium wrote: post #3

I've always thought Australia should build a giant canal from the Great Australia Bite up through central Australia. Perhaps forming a permanent inland sea. The sea water evaporating would fall as rain (not sure where , though...). A question for this article is who would have gotten that rain had it not been seeded.

The Qattara Depression in Egypt should probably get dug to the sea first. It's significantly deeper, which would allow you to generate significant amounts of hydroelectric power by flooding the depression.

Judging by the Suez Canal or the Salton Sea it doesn't have good long term effects. Eventually it dries out and the salt left behind gets flung around surrounding areas, contaminating water supplies and ruining crops.

Re: China Is Building a Rain-Making System Three Times as Big as Spain

#150

Post by lxmorj »

ggm wrote: post #12

Excluding systems which put water into the air, Atmospheric water is a zero sum game AFAIK so if this causes rain to fall where the Chinese want it, somebody else misses out. Freshwater from high mountains in the India/China region is a hot topic. They're running out of glaciers.

What if they're "stealing" rainfall that otherwise hits oceans?
Post reply on HN