Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Cloud seeding in Mali: Multi-million dollar contract for an American company

(BY HUGO)

A discussion on cloud seeding in a recent post motivates the reporting of this news (in French - article in L'Essor by Sibiri Konaté) to illustrate the type of operations currently performed in Africa.

Mali is paying a total of around US $27 000 000 for cloud seeding to a consortium led by Weather Modification Incorporated, an American company. The rain enhancement programme was initiated in 2005. The increase in rainfall is reported to vary between 15% and 50% depending on the region. Analysis performed on provoked rainwater reportedly shows no alteration in water quality.

Interestingly, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Alberta are on the list of Weather Modification Incorporated's clients. The operations in Alberta are still going on and relate to hail suppression.

UPDATE: Another article from David Dembele in Journal du Mali (in French) provides additional details on the seeding campain.

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