Abstract

MEDINA-GARCIA, Guillermo et al. Stimulation of rain using silver iodide cloud-seeding over northern central Mexico during the 2012 wet season. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Agríc [online]. 2014, vol.5, n.spe10, pp.1951-1962. ISSN 2007-0934.

During October 2010, a drought was initiated in Mexico and worsened through the summer of 2011. A silver iodide (Agí) cloud-seeding program aimed at easing the effects of the drought was implemented during the 2012 wet season (21 June to 10 September). This study assesses the effect of that program in enhancing precipitation. The cloud-seeding program was conducted in the Mexican states of Zacatecas and Aguascalientes, and involved 46 cloud-seeding flights. Automatic weather stations were used to monitor the occurrence of rainfall. The average 24-hour rainfall on all seeding dates was 11.9 mm, and the average rainfall during the seeding period was 3.5 mm (29.4%, p< 0.05). The total 24-h precipitation on all dates amounted to 81 mm, with 26 mm being recorded during the seeding periods (32.1%). The average historical precipitation during the rainy season recorded for the years 1961-2009 was 249.7 mm, whereas during the 2012 wet season the rain amount recorded was 213.1 mm. Although within the normal precipitation range, this value falls below the average, being 10-50% less than normal values in most of the study area. Despite the seeding program, precipitation recorded during the 2012 wet season was not widespread and proved to be lower than normal, indicating that the cloud-seeding did not have a significant impact on increasing the amount of rainfall, at least not regarding its use for agricultural purposes.

Keywords : cloud-seeding; rainfall increase; silver iodide.

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