LAKEPORT, Calif. — The city of Lakeport said thousands of pounds of garbage were cleaned up during the Spring 2023 Community Cleanup Day.
The city and its Lakeport Public Works Department expressed appreciation and thanks to all who participated in the event, which took place on Saturday, April 29.
Lakeport Disposal reported a solid turnout of City of Lakeport residents who were appreciative of the opportunity to dispose of unwanted junk and trash at no cost.
More than 10,000 pounds of unwanted materials were collected at the event last weekend.
Lakeport Disposal reported the following statistics, in pounds, for the cleanup:
The city offered a special thanks to Lakeport Disposal Inc. and its staff for coordinating a safe and well-organized event and for collecting tons of trash, recyclables and other solid waste materials.
The Lakeport Community Cleanup Day began in 2017 and is a semi-annual event intended to help keep the community clean and beautiful and to promote recycling opportunities.
Participation is limited to city of Lakeport residents.
Since the event began, more than 15,000 pounds of recyclable materials have been diverted from disposal in Lake County’s landfill.
The event is sponsored by the city of Lakeport and Lakeport Disposal Inc., the city’s contracted waste hauler and service provider.
Look for the next city of Lakeport Community Cleanup Day in the fall.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lake County Farm Bureau has weighed in on this week’s decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service not to give an emergency Endangered Species listing to the Clear Lake hitch.
Fish and Wildlife said Tuesday that it would not give the listing to the hitch, also known as the “chi” to Lake County’s Pomo tribes, but that a full species evaluation is underway.
That evaluation is expected to be completed in 2025. It’s possible that a listing following the regular process could follow, based upon the study’s conclusions.
“Lake County Farm Bureau believes in informed decisions made on the basis of thorough scientific research and analysis. We are confident that USFWS will continue to analyze the status of the Clear Lake hitch in order to make the most appropriate listing decision for the species by the original 2025 review period,” said Executive Director Rebecca Harper.
The Big Valley Pomo, which along with Lake County’s other tribes joined the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Fish and Game Commission in advocating for Fish and Wildlife to grant the emergency measure, voiced its disappointment in the decision.
Tribal Chair Philip Gomez said the emergency listing could have resulted in changes to water diversions that would have increased water flow in creeks during the spawning period.
Center for Biological Diversity representative Meg Townsend this week had cautioned that a listing itself doesn’t necessarily lead to saving a species.
As the species evaluation moves forward, Harper said agricultural stakeholders remain committed to voluntary actions that will improve spawning conditions for the hitch.
“Stakeholders will continue working with state and federal agencies as well as community partners to identify and implement strategies that allow us to move forward together,” Harper said.
Beginning in March, hitch began to run in large numbers in county creeks, which has appeared to be a result of this year’s high water levels.
That led to some overflow of creeks into fields in the Kelseyville area, which saw Harper and local farmers working alongside the tribes to safely move the fish to prevent them from being stranded.
“While acknowledging that one year of successful spawning will not save the species, seeing the chi in such significant numbers in our tributaries this spring has been very encouraging,” said Harper.
She added, “We hope that this successful spawning run will help to stabilize the population while ongoing in-lake and stream-based studies aim to address larger issues that may be impacting the population.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
UPPER LAKE, Calif. — The Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake tribe presented an $80,000 check to support the emergency response efforts of the Northshore Fire Protection District.
The Northshore Fire District said this latest round of support will assist with emergency response efforts and staff support.
The tribe’s contribution will assist with staffing and maintaining equipment to support firefighters when on duty.
“Everyday the brave men and women of the Northshore Fire Protection District are there for our community,” said Sherry Treppa, chairwoman for the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake. “While others are running from the danger, they are running into it. The Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake appreciate the work of the Northshore Fire Protection District and are honored to continue our support of public safety investments to better meet the needs of our community,”
“The Northshore Fire Protection District is grateful for the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake’s ongoing support for our community. This latest donation will greatly aid in our emergency response efforts and ensure the tools our crews need are appropriately maintained and ready to protect the community,” said Northshore Fire Chief Mike Ciancio.
The contribution is a part of the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake’s ongoing commitment to local communities and residents in the region.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has dogs of all ages waiting to meet you this week.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Anatolian shepherd, border collie, German shepherd, pit bull, plott hound, schnauzer, standard poodle and terrier.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
‘Sparkles’
“Sparkles” is a 6-year-old female terrier with a short black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 2, ID No. LCAC-A-5116.
‘Max’
“Max” is a 7-month-old male terrier mix with a short black coat.
He is in kennel No. 5, ID No. LCAC-A-4248.
Male pit bull
This 1-year-old male pit bull has a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 8, ID No. LCAC-A-5120.
‘Tux’
“Tux” is a 2-year-old male border collie-shepherd mix has a long black coat.
He is in kennel No. 9, ID No. LCAC-A-5012.
Male Anatolian shepherd
This one and a half year old male Anatolian shepherd has a tan and black coat.
He is in kennel No. 12, ID No. LCAC-A-5036.
Female pit bull-shepherd puppy
This 5-month-old female pit bull-shepherd puppy has a short black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-5071.
Female shepherd
This 1-year-old female shepherd has a short tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 14, ID No. LCAC-A-5113.
‘Kyle Barkson’
“Kyle Barkson” is a 5 and a half year old male pit bull with a black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 15, ID No. LCAC-A-5039.
Male German shepherd
This 9-month-old male German shepherd has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 17, ID No. LCAC-A-5054.
Male plott hound
This 2-year-old male plott hound has a short brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-5143.
‘Pluto’
“Pluto” is a 2-year-old male pit bull terrier-hound mix with a short brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 20, ID No. LCAC-A-5052.
Male pit bull terrier
This 3-year-old male pit bull terrier has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 21, ID No. LCAC-A-5076.
Male terrier
This 1-year-old male terrier mix has a short brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 23, ID No. LCAC-A-5110.
Male terrier
This 1-year-old male terrier has a short brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 24, ID No. LCAC-A-5111.
Male German shepherd
This 5 and a half year old male German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-4994.
‘Max’
“Max” is a 13-year-old male terrier with a long white coat.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. LCAC-A-5115.
Female schnauzer-standard poodle puppy
This 4-month-old female schnauzer-standard poodle puppy has a gray coat.
She is in kennel No. 31, ID No. LCAC-A-5197.
Female pit bull-shepherd puppy
This 5-month-old female pit bull-shepherd puppy has a short tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 32, ID No. LCAC-A-5072.
‘Slim’
“Slim” is a 1-year-old male pit bull with a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 33, ID No. LCAC-A-5107.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LUCERNE, Calif. — The Central Region Town Hall, the new town hall the Board of Supervisors created to supplant the Lucerne Area Town Hall, will hold its first meeting on Monday, May 8.
The group will meet from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center, 3985 Country Club Drive.
The meeting can be accessed via Zoom; the meeting ID is 957 8198 0635, pass code is 491079. For one-tap mobile, dial 16699006833,,95781980635#,,,,*491079# US.
The town hall’s board members, appointed by the Board of Supervisors on May 2, are Kathy Herdman, Priest Martinez, Atlas Pearson, Austin Pratt and Becky Schwenger.
The group will have a welcoming statement in which it will announce that the Central Region Town Hall “is solely an advisory body to provide recommendations to the Board of Supervisors.”
Action items include officer selection, times and dates for meetings, and the determining of future agenda items.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The city of Clearlake, city of Lakeport and county of Lake recently partnered to establish a new agency, the Lake County Recreation Agency, with a focus on improvements to recreational facilities/programs in Lake County.
The Lake County Recreation Agency, or LCRA, Board of Directors is composed of two county supervisors, two Clearlake council members and two Lakeport council members.
There is a seventh, “at-large,” position on the board of directors that is to be appointed by the six current members.
If you are interested in applying for the at-large position, please complete the application and submit to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or to Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The application is available on the city of Lakeport website at this link.
To be eligible for appointment to the LCRA Board, candidates must be at least 18 years of age, a citizen of California, and a resident of and registered voter in the county of Lake.
The applicant is asked to describe education, experience, training, license or professional designation, and public service qualifications.
Candidates will describe what they consider to be the top three to five significant issues or priorities in regard to recreation in Lake County and their thoughts about addressing these concerns.
For more information, contact Assistant Lakeport City Manager/Finance Director Nicholas Walker at 707-263-5615, Extension 301.
The famous first image of a black hole just got two times sharper. A research team used artificial intelligence to dramatically improve upon its first image from 2019, which now shows the black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy as darker and bigger than the first image depicted.
Since then, AI has spread into every field of astronomy. As the technology has become more powerful, AI algorithms have begun helping astronomers tame massive data sets and discover new knowledge about the universe.
Better telescopes, more data
As long as astronomy has been a science, it has involved trying to make sense of the multitude of objects in the night sky. That was relatively simple when the only tools were the naked eye or a simple telescope, and all that could be seen were a few thousand stars and a handful of planets.
A hundred years ago, Edwin Hubble used newly built telescopes to show that the universe is filled with not just stars and clouds of gas, but countless galaxies. As telescopes have continued to improve, the sheer number of celestial objects humans can see and the amount of data astronomers need to sort through have both grown exponentially, too.
For example, the soon-to-be-completed Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile will make images so large that it would take 1,500 high-definition TV screens to view each one in its entirety. Over 10 years it is expected to generate 0.5 exabytes of data – about 50,000 times the amount of information held in all of the books contained within the Library of Congress.
There are 20 telescopes with mirrors larger than 20 feet (6 meters) in diameter. AI algorithms are the only way astronomers could ever hope to work through all of the data available to them today. There are a number of ways AI is proving useful in processing this data.
Picking out patterns
Astronomy often involves looking for needles in a haystack. About 99% of the pixels in an astronomical image contain background radiation, light from other sources or the blackness of space – only 1% have the subtle shapes of faint galaxies.
AI algorithms – in particular, neural networks that use many interconnected nodes and are able to learn to recognize patterns – are perfectly suited for picking out the patterns of galaxies. Astronomers began using neural networks to classify galaxies in the early 2010s. Now the algorithms are so effective that they can classify galaxies with an accuracy of 98%.
This story has been repeated in other areas of astronomy. Astronomers working on SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, use radio telescopes to look for signals from distant civilizations. Early on, radio astronomers scanned charts by eye to look for anomalies that couldn’t be explained. More recently, researchers harnessed 150,000 personal computers and 1.8 million citizen scientists to look for artificial radio signals. Now, researchers are using AI to sift through reams of data much more quickly and thoroughly than people can. This has allowed SETI efforts to cover more ground while also greatly reducing the number of false positive signals.
AI has proved itself to be excellent at identifying known objects – like galaxies or exoplanets – that astronomers tell it to look for. But it is also quite powerful at finding objects or phenomena that are theorized but have not yet been discovered in the real world.
Teams have used this approach to detect new exoplanets, learn about the ancestral stars that led to the formation and growth of the Milky Way, and predict the signatures of new types of gravitational waves.
To do this, astronomers first use AI to convert theoretical models into observational signatures – including realistic levels of noise. They then use machine learning to sharpen the ability of AI to detect the predicted phenomena.
Finally, radio astronomers have also been using AI algorithms to sift through signals that don’t correspond to known phenomena. Recently a team from South Africa found a unique object that may be a remnant of the explosive merging of two supermassive black holes. If this proves to be true, the data will allow a new test of general relativity – Albert Einstein’s description of space-time.
Making predictions and plugging holes
As in many areas of life recently, generative AI and large language models like ChatGPT are also making waves in the astronomy world.
The team that created the first image of a black hole in 2019 used a generative AI to produce its new image. To do so, it first taught an AI how to recognize black holes by feeding it simulations of many kinds of black holes. Then, the team used the AI model it had built to fill in gaps in the massive amount of data collected by the radio telescopes on the black hole M87.
Using this simulated data, the team was able to create a new image that is two times sharper than the original and is fully consistent with the predictions of general relativity.
Astronomers are also turning to AI to help tame the complexity of modern research. A team from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics created a language model called astroBERT to read and organize 15 million scientific papers on astronomy. Another team, based at NASA, has even proposed using AI to prioritize astronomy projects, a process that astronomers engage in every 10 years.
As AI has progressed, it has become an essential tool for astronomers. As telescopes get better, as data sets get larger and as AIs continue to improve, it is likely that this technology will play a central role in future discoveries about the universe.
Mindfulness and self-compassion are now buzzwords for self-improvement. But in fact, a growing body of research shows these practices can lead to real mental health benefits. This research – ongoing, voluminous and worldwide – clearly shows how and why these two practices work.
One effective way to cultivate mindfulness and self-compassion is through meditation.
For more than 20 years, as a clinical psychologist, research scientist and educator, I taught meditation to students and clinical patients and took a deep dive into the research literature. My recent book, “The Self-Talk Workout: Six Science-Backed Strategies to Dissolve Self-Criticism and Transform the Voice in Your Head,” highlights much of that research.
I didn’t like meditation – the specific practice sessions that train mindfulness and self-compassion – the first time I tried it as a college student in the late ‘90s. I felt like a failure when my mind wandered, and I interpreted that as a sign that I couldn’t do it.
In both my own and others’ meditation practices, I’ve noticed that the beginning is often rocky and full of doubt, resistance and distraction.
But what seem like impediments can actually enhance meditation practice, because the mental work of handling them builds strength.
For the first six months I meditated, my body and mind were restless. I wanted to get up and do other tasks. But I didn’t. Eventually it became easier to notice my urges and thoughts without acting upon them. I didn’t get as upset with myself.
After about a year of consistent meditation, my mind seemed more organized and controllable; it no longer got stuck in self-critical loops. I felt a sense of kindness or friendliness toward myself in everyday moments, as well as during joyful or difficult experiences. I enjoyed ordinary activities more, such as walking or cleaning.
It took a while to understand that anytime you sit down and try to meditate, that’s meditation. It is a mental process, rather than a destination.
How meditation works on the mind
Just having a general intention to be more mindful or self-compassionate is unlikely to work.
A common misconception about mindfulness is that it’s simply a way to relax or clear the mind. Rather, it means intentionally paying attention to your experiences in a nonjudgmental way.
Consider meditation the formal part of your practice – that is, setting aside a time to work on specific mindfulness and self-compassion techniques.
Cultivating mindfulness with meditation often involves focusing on paying attention to the breath. A common way to start practice is to sit in a comfortable place and bring attention to your breathing, wherever you feel it most strongly.
At some point, probably after a breath or two, your mind will wander to another thought or feeling. As soon as you notice that, you can bring your attention back to the breath and try not to judge yourself for losing focus for five to 10 minutes.
When I was just getting started meditating, I would have to redirect my attention dozens or hundreds of times in a 20-to-30-minute session. Counting 10 breaths, and then another 10, and so on, helped me link my mind to the task of paying attention to my breathing.
The most well-established technique for cultivating self-compassion is called loving-kindness meditation. To practice, you can find a comfortable position, and for at least five minutes, internally repeat phrases such as, “May I be safe. May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I live with ease.”
When your attention wanders, you can bring it back with as little self-judgment as possible and continue repeating the phrases. Then, if you like, offer the same well wishes to other people or to all beings.
Every time you return your focus to your practice without judging, you’re flexing your mental awareness, because you noticed your mind wandered. You also improve your capacity to shift attention, a valuable anti-rumination skill, and your nonjudgment, an antidote to self-criticism.
Mindfulness also occurs when you tune into present-moment sensations, such as tasting your food or washing the dishes.
An ongoing routine of formal and informal practice can transform your thinking. And again, doing it once in a while won’t help as much. It’s like situps: A single situp isn’t likely to strengthen your abdominal muscles, but doing several sets each day will.
One final point: Beginning meditators may find that self-criticism gets worse before it gets better.
After years or decades of habitual self-judgment, people often judge themselves harshly about losing focus during meditation. But once students get through the first few weeks of practice, the self-judgment begins to abate, both about meditation and about oneself in general.
As one of my students recently said after several weeks of mindfulness meditation: “I am more stable, more able to detach from unhelpful thoughts and can do all of this while being a little more compassionate and loving toward myself.”
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control’s shelter continues to be filled with doings needing new families.
The shelter’s website lists 47 dogs waiting for adoption.
Dogs available to new families this week include “Tink,” a 2 year old Doberman Pinscher mix that shelter staff describe as a “total love bug” who wants all the attention she can get.
Another of the waiting dogs is “Bella,” a female American pit bull mix terrier with a short black and tan coat.
A longtime shelter resident and favorite, a shepherd mix named Terry, recently was adopted.
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Separate power outages were reported overnight at both ends of Clear Lake.
The outages, in Clearlake and Lakeport, were reported about 15 minutes apart.
At 4:16 a.m. Saturday, an outage impacting 2,833 customers in the Clearlake area was reported, according to Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
A crew was assigned to assess the outage’s cause, which wasn’t reported.
Power is expected to be restored by 8 a.m. Saturday.
Then, in Lakeport, shortly after 4:30 a.m. there were reports of multiple transformers arcing, according to radio traffic.
Fire radio traffic indicated that a large portion of the city was without power.
The problem area was narrowed down to a power pole at the corner of Armstrong and Main Streets, firefighters reported over the air.
PG&E’s outage map showed that 800 Lakeport customers were impacted.
The power in that portion of Lakeport also was originally estimated to be back on by 8 a.m. Saturday, but PG&E said it was restored by 5 a.m.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
What's up for May? Planets strike a pose with the Moon, we reach "peak Venus," and what's different about the skies of the Southern Hemisphere.
On the morning of May 13, find the planet Saturn rising together with a third-quarter (or half-full) moon. Find them together in the southeast in the couple of hours before sunrise.
Then on May 17, a slim crescent moon rises about an hour before the Sun, and from much of the U.S. and Canada, the planet Jupiter will appear very close to the Moon.
But from some southern U.S. states, you'll be able to observe Jupiter passing behind the Moon as the pair rise in morning twilight. And from the western states, Jupiter will actually be behind the Moon, in occultation, as the pair rise. Jupiter will start to emerge from behind the Moon as the Sun comes up.
Now, this will be quite low in the sky, so you'll need a clear view of the horizon to observe it, and a pair of binoculars will be a big help as the sky begins to brighten.
Next, following sunset on May 22 through the 24, the Moon, Venus and Mars form a close grouping in the west. The Moon sits between the two planets on May 23.
Venus has been rising higher in the sky each evening for the past few months. That begins to change in May, as the brilliant planet reaches its highest point in the western sky, and starts trending lower as we move into June. It'll disappear from evening skies by late July, reappearing in the eastern sky about a month later as a morning object.
There are some key differences between the night sky in the Southern Hemisphere, compared to the North. To start with, there's no counterpart to the North Star for the Southern Hemisphere. The celestial poles shift over time, so eventually there will be a "South Star," but not at the moment.
Next, from Orion to the Teapot to the Gemini twins, the seasonal star patterns northern observers are most familiar with appear flipped upside down when viewed in southern skies. The Moon also appears the other way around, and its phases fill up from left to right, instead of right to left as they do in the north.
Stars near the north celestial pole, including Ursa Major and Cassiopeia are below the horizon for much of the Southern Hemisphere. But there are lots of dazzling constellations easily visible only from the Southern Hemisphere, like Crux, Carina, Tucana (the toucan) and Centaurus (the centaur)!
Next, while observers in both hemispheres are well-acquainted with the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, Southern Hemisphere skywatchers get to enjoy the second and third brightest stars, as well.
The second-brightest star, Canopus, appears about half as bright as Sirius, but that's still quite bright. And the two stars are often seen together in southern skies. The third brightest star in our skies here on Earth is also the closest star system to our own — Alpha Centauri. It's too far south in the sky to be visible for most of the Northern Hemisphere. But it's quite well-known to skywatchers to the south.
Finally, there are two entire galaxies easily observed in the southern sky with the unaided eye. These are the Magellanic Clouds, which are dwarf galaxies that orbit our galaxy the Milky Way. They make for a stunning sight in night sky photos from Southern latitudes.
And that's a really short list of some of the ways the skies above the Southern Hemisphere are unique. Our view of the cosmos may be different from one part of the planet to the other, but the insights we gain from looking up and exploring are something we all can share.
Stay up to date with all of NASA's missions to explore the solar system and beyond at www.nasa.gov.
Preston Dyches works for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Daniel Merino, The Conversation and Nehal El-Hadi, The Conversation
When an unexpected rainstorm leaves you soaking wet, it is an annoyance. When a drought leads to fires, crop failures and water shortages, the significance of weather becomes vitally important.
If you could control the weather, would you?
Small amounts of rain can mean the difference between struggle and success. For nearly 80 years, an approach called cloud seeding has, in theory, given people the ability to get more rain and snow from storms and make hailstorms less severe. But only recently have scientists been able to peer into clouds and begin to understand how effective cloud seeding really is.
In this episode of “The Conversation Weekly,” we speak with three researchers about the simple yet murky science of cloud seeding, the economic effects it can have on agriculture, and research that may allow governments to use cloud seeding in more places.
Katja Friedrich, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder in the U.S., is a leading researcher on cloud seeding. “When we do cloud seeding, we are looking for clouds that have tiny super-cooled liquid droplets,” she explains. Silver iodide is very similar in structure to an ice crystal. When the droplets touch a particle of silver iodide, “they freeze, then they can start merging with other ice crystals, become snowflakes and fall out of the cloud.”
While the process is fairly straightforward, measuring how effective it is in the real world is not, according to Friedrich. “The problem is that once we modify a cloud, it’s really difficult to say what would’ve happened if you hadn’t cloud-seeded.” It’s hard enough to predict weather without messing with it artificially.
In 2017, Friedrich’s research group had a breakthrough in measuring the effect of cloud seeding. “We flew some aircraft, released silver iodide and generated these clouds that were like these six exact lines that were downstream of where the aircraft were seeding,” she says. They then had a second aircraft fly through the clouds. “We could actually quantify how much snow we could produce by two hours of cloud seeding.” That effect, according to research on cloud seeding, is an increase in precipitation of somewhere around 5% to 20% or 30%, depending on conditions.
Measuring the effect on precipitation – whether rain or snow – directly may have taken complex science and a bit of luck, but in places that have been using cloud seeding for long periods of time, the economic benefits are shockingly clear.
Dean Bangsund is a researcher at the University of North Dakota who studies the economics of agriculture. “We have a high amount of hail damage in North Dakota,” said Bangsund. For decades, the state government has been using cloud seeding to reduce hail damage, as cloud seeding leads to the formation of more pieces of smaller hail compared to fewer pieces of larger hail. “It doesn’t 100% eliminate hail; it’s designed to soften the impact.”
Every 10 years, the state of North Dakota does an analysis on the economic impacts of the cloud seeding program, measuring both reduction in hail damage and benefits from increased rain. Bangsund led the last report and says that for every dollar spent on the cloud seeding program, “we are looking at something that is anywhere from $8 or $9 in benefit on the really lowest scale, up to probably $20 of impact per acre.” With millions of acres of agricultural fields in the cloud seeding area, that is a massive economic benefit.
Both Freidrich and Bangsund emphasized that cloud seeding, while effective in some cases, cannot be used everywhere. There is also a lot of uncertainty in how much of an effect it has. One way to improve the effectiveness and applicability of cloud seeding is by improving the seed. Linda Zou is a professor of civil infrastructure and environmental engineering at Khalifa University in the United Arab Emirates.
Her work has focused on developing a replacement for silver iodide, and her lab has developed what she calls a nanopowder. “I start with table salt, which is sodium chloride,” says Zou. “This desirable-sized crystal is then coated with a thin nanomaterial layer of titanium dioxide.” When salt gets wet, it melts and forms a droplet that can efficiently merge with other droplets and fall from a cloud. Titanium dioxide attracts water. Put the two together and you get a very effective cloud-seeding material.
From indoor experiments, Zou found that “with the nanopowders, there are 2.9 times the formation of larger-size water droplets.” These nanopowders can also form ice crystals at warmer temperatures and less humidity than silver iodide.
As Zou says, “if the material you are releasing is more reactive and can work in a much wider range of conditions, that means no matter when you decide to use it, the chance of success will be greater.”
This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood. Mend Mariwany is the executive producer of The Conversation Weekly. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.
You can find us on Twitter @TC_Audio, on Instagram at theconversationdotcom or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s free daily email here.
Listen to “The Conversation Weekly” via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here.