BANGKOK/TOKYO — As a heat wave pushes temperatures up to nearly 50 C, a recent video released by the United Arab Emirates shows a city in the arid nation lashed by torrential rain — the result of a national cloud-seeding operation.
The program seen in the video, which was reported by the U.K.-based Independent newspaper, is just one example of emerging economies, particularly China, making their own weather to address the threat posed by droughts and other extreme events made more likely by climate change.
China in January conducted a successful maiden flight of its first weather modification drone, the Ganlin-1, whose name means “sweet rain.” The unmanned vehicle can operate more efficiently than the manned flights China had used in the past, and at a lower cost, according to Beijing.
Ganlin-1 was developed as part of an ambitious weather modification plan announced late last…
