Lasers Could Create Clouds, and Perhaps Rain, on Demand
The future of weather manipulation just got even crazier
天氣操縱剛的未來會更加瘋狂
By Jeremy Hsu
Posted 05.03.2010 at 11:10 am
Laser Cloud Seeding Let's fire up the Pink Floyd album Jean-Pierre Wolf/University of Geneva激光雲播種 讓我們激發Pink Floyd專輯Jean-Pierre Wolf/瑞士日內瓦大學
Weather control freaks may get their next rainmaking tool in the form of an infrared laser. Scientists have successfully created small clouds by firing a laser both inside a lab and under the autumn skies of Berlin, Germany, New Scientist reports.
天氣控制狂熱愛好者可能得到他們的下一個人工降雨工具，以紅外線激光的形式。科學家們已成功地以發射激光來創造小雲，在實驗室內及在德國柏林秋天的天空下兩者，新科學家報告。
The concept works because laser pulses strip electrons from atoms in the air and promote formation of hydroxyl radicals. Those in turn make sulfur and nitrogen dioxides into particles which can form the basis for water droplets -- not unlike how current cloud seeding methods use silver iodide crystals as the "seeds" for water droplets.
概念可行因為激光脈衝解除從空氣中的原子來的電子，和促進氫氧自由基的形成，它們跟住造出硫和氮氧化物成為粒子，這能形成水滴 的基礎 - 沒有不似目前的雲播種方法，如何使用碘化銀晶體作為水滴的“種子”。
But rather than seeding the air with crystals delivered by airplanes or artillery rockets, the Swiss, German and French researchers used a laser which could generate 220-millijoule pulses within 60 femtoseconds, where one femtosecond is one millionth of one billionth of a second. That's as much power as what 1,000 power plants could generate, according to Jérôme Kasparian at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
但除了在空氣中以飛機或火箭炮將晶體播種，瑞士、德國和法國的研究人員寧可使用激光，它可在60飛秒產生 220 millijoule脈衝，在那一飛秒是一秒的十億分之一的百萬分之一，那等如1,000間電廠能產生的電力，根據瑞士日內瓦大學的杰羅姆 Kasparian。
A lab experiment involved the laser firing inside water-saturated air to create tiny clouds similar to airplane contrails. The outdoor experiment did not produce visible clouds, but clearly boosted the density and size of water droplets according to weather LIDAR measurements.
Cloud seeding has had plenty of critics voice their doubts over its effectiveness. Still, China has used the weather-control tactic for its hosted Olympics, and even delivered snowstorms to weary Beijing residents on multiple occasions. Russia has also prominently used cloud seeding in an attempt to make snow fall on the outskirts of Moscow rather than on the city itself.
Nations intrigued by the idea of more high-tech cloud seeding shouldn't abandon their silver iodide just yet. Researchers need to work on tuning their laser in the hopes of creating large enough water droplets which could fall as rain.
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-05/lasers-could-trigger-clouds-and-perhaps-rain-demand
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