XPost: alt.global-warming, talk.politics.misc, alt.culture.saudi
XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
On 24/07/2021 23:08, Byker wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0-jh8-kbTA
Silver iodide is expensive, but in the UAE money is no object...
We've been here before
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/lymouth-flood-disaster-raf-rainmaking-3215800
Lynmouth Flood Disaster: RAF rainmaking experiment blamed for Devon's
worst ever flood disaster
On the anniversary of the Lynmouth tragedy that claimed 34 lives, we
look at compelling evidence that scientists were carrying out cloud
seeding experiments
By
Colleen SmithDevon Live Chief Reporter
16:36, 15 AUG 2019
Updated17:02, 15 AUG 2019
Operation Cumulus was the name of the experiment being carried out by
the RAF and an international team of scientists in August 1952.
On this day, August 15 1952, the cloud seeding experiments came to a
sudden end, official documents have confirmed.
It was also the same day that Devon experienced the biggest, most
tragic, flooding event the region has seen in more than 300 years.
Thirty four people died in the flash storms that have become known at
the Lymouth Flood Disaster as a torrent of 90m tons of water and
thousands of tons of rock poured off saturated Exmoor and into the
village destroying homes, bridges, shops and hotels..
In August 1952 eyewitnesses described the 'purple black' clouds that accumulated over Exmoor - some even said the threatening skies had a
weird greenish tinge. And more than one person observed that the clouds
above North Devon and West Somerset were moving in completely opposite directions.
The disaster was officially termed a 'hand of God' event. But in 2001
the BBC unearthed new evidence from previously classified government
files suggesting that a team of international scientists working with
the RAF was experimenting with artificial rainmaking in southern Britain
in the same week and could possibly have been implicated.
Squadron Leader Len Otley, who was working on Operation Cumulus, told
the BBC that they jokingly referred to the rainmaking exercise as
Operation Witch Doctor.
The Ministry of Defence has categorically denied knowledge of any
cloud-seeding experiments taking place in the UK during early August
1952. But the new documents suggest that Operation Cumulus was going on between August 4 and August 15 1952 - it was stopped abruptly on the day
of the Lynmouth disaster.
Operation Cumulus was put on hold indefinitely after the tragedy.
RAF navigator Group Captain John Hart remembers the early experiments,
The Guardian reported : "We flew straight through the top of the cloud,
poured dry ice down into the cloud. We flew down to see if any rain came
out of the cloud. And it did about 30 minutes later, and we all cheered."
The meteorological office had previously denied there were any
rainmaking experiments conducted before 1955, but a BBC Radio 4 history investigation, broadcast in August 2001, unearthed documents at the
public record office showing that they were going on from 1949 to 1955.
RAF logbooks and personnel corroborate the evidence.
The scientists were based at Cranfield school of aeronautics and worked
with the RAF and the MoD's meteorological research team at Farnborough.
The chemicals were provided by ICI in Billingham.
A 60-year-old radio broadcast unearthed by Radio 4 describes an
aeronautical engineer and glider pilot, Alan Yates, working with
Operation Cumulus flying over Bedfordshire, spraying salt which caused a
heavy downpour 50 miles away over Staines, in Middlesex.
"The rain was the heaviest for several years - and all out of a sky
which looked summery ... there was no disguising the fact that the
seedsman had said he'd make it rain, and he did.
"Toasts were drunk to meteorology and it was not until the BBC news
bulletin [about Lynmouth] was read later on, that a stony silence fell
on the company," said Mr Yates at the time.
UK weather modification experiments at the time targeted 'super cool'
clouds to increase the volume of freezing water vapour particles.
Methods included firing particles of salt, dry ice, or silver iodide,
into clouds, either from an aeroplane or from burners on the ground.
The clouds would be pulled below freezing by the extra weight of dense particles, making the rain fall sooner and heavier.
Significantly, silver iodide was claimed to cause a downpour up to 300
miles away.
The British Geological Survey examined soil sediments in the district of Lynmouth to see if any silver or iodide residues remain. The testing was limited due to restrictions in place because of foot and mouth disease,
and it is inconclusive. However, silver residue has been discovered in
the catchment waters of the river Lyn.
Declassified minutes from an air ministry meeting, held in the war
office on November 3, 1953, show why the military were interested in
increasing rain and snow by artificial means. The list of possible uses included "bogging down enemy movement", "incrementing the water flow in
rivers and streams to hinder or stop enemy crossings", and clearing fog
from airfields.
Whether or not the Lymouth Flood Disaster was linked to the rainmaking experiments, 90 million tons of water cascaded down the steep narrow
valleys of the twin rivers Lyn towards the small harbour village that
night causing death and devastation.
Not all of the people killed were in Lynmouth. The deaths included
babies, children, teenagers, back-packers, husbands and wives and the
elderly.
One eye-witness was John Pedder (pictured above in 2017). He survived by climbing across rooftops and watched as cars, buildings and whole trees
were swept by just feet from him.
Wendy Marker was working at a local hotel on that fateful Friday night,
when her parents decided to evacuate their home.
"When I got back along the road I couldn't use the river path - they
were all up at the school. Was I frightened? No, not really," said
Wendy. "I'd lived by the river all my life and was used to hearing it
roar. The school was above where we lived and they were all there except
three people who lived in one of the other cottages. They refused to
leave. But then they were always a bit like that - the sort who'd peer
out from behind their curtains at you. Very old.
"And I remember the great crash that happened at around one in the
morning. That was that for the cottages - and for the three old people.
All gone. Not a thing left.
"It"s strange really," she added. "You know most people have got
something handed down from their mum, or their grandmother. I haven't
got a thing. Not a single hand-me-down. It all went in the flood."
Controversy still surrounds the early cloud-seeding experiments. In 1955 questions were asked in the Commons about the possibilities of liability
and compensation claims.
The BBC Radio 4 programme The Day They Made It Rain suggested that both
the air ministry and the Treasury were aware that rainmaking could cause damage, not just to military targets and personnel, but also to civilians.
--
Global sea level rise to 2100 from curve-fitted existing altimetry data <
http://diverse.4mg.com/slr.htm>
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