Rainmakers: Will drones make cloud seeding more effective?

Augustus Doricko, the founder and CEO of Rainmaker, is quick to answer any questions on the consequences of how his company uses the silver iodide compound. It’s clear he’s been asked about chemical safety many times.

He says Rainmaker releases this form of silver at 20 grams per flight, distributed across thousands of square kilometres. “The resultant increase in concentration on the ground is in the parts per quadrillion, way below the threshold laid out by the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] on what is allowable.”

Rainmaker’s flights use drones to soar into clouds because without clouds, “we can’t do anything,” he says, pointing to one of the key limits of cloud-seeding processes. Cloud-seeding sessions have to wait for clouds to form to try to coax them into precipitation.

Their drones are outfitted with silver iodide flairs, and when lit the burning atomizes the water particles into a small enough size so they can stay suspended in the freezing cloud for hours, eventually turning into crystals and later rain.

Rainmaker operates in states such as Idaho, Utah, Colorado and areas of the Middle East such as Jordan. Doricko says, “Jordan residents often only have water for hours per week from their utility because of how scarce water is, and it’s a privilege to try to help this storied region.”

Cloud seeding’s roots began in 1946 when researchers from the General Electric Research Laboratory used dry ice as the first seeding agent. A year later, silver iodide was found to be more effective than dry ice, which quickly turns into useless gas.

While seeding agents caused more rainfall, they didn’t move the needle much. In fact, sobering statistics point to how patchy this technology can be in what it pours on the ground.

“With the right conditions, cloud seeding squeeze out about an extra five to 10% of precipitation,” says Jon Meyer, an assistant state climatologist with the Utah Climate Center.

What was encouraging, though, for the cloud-seeding sector was a landmark 2017 study that found how silver iodide worked as expected, one of the first reports to observe cloud seeding in action using radar and precipitation gauges.

In the past several years, Meyer has been encouraged to see more companies such as Rainmaker bring innovation to an old industry. “Drones [such as Rainmaker’s products] present this new avenue,” says Meyer, “and they offer a more targeted nature to these clouds we hope will be responsive.”