Facing persistent drought, the worst natural calamity for China's economy and ecosystem, the country is set to launch extensive weather modification operations to seek extra precipitation from water-droplet clouds.

"Large-scale weather modification operations, mostly cloud seeding and hail suppression using airplanes, aircraft guns and special rocket launchers, will be widely adopted to enhance precipitation in upstream areas of large reservoirs and cradles of major rivers," a leading weather official announced Friday.

"Cloud seeding or artificial rain-making, hail and fog-dispersing techniques will also be used to help improve ecosystem and control forest fires, secure freeway transportation and the success of key social events like the Beijing 2008 Olympic games and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo," Qin Dahe, the top official at the China Meteorological Administration, said yesterday during a national conference in Beijing aimed at coordinating such operation.

Last year, 413 million yuan (US$49 million) was injected into the operation.

In 2003 alone, more than 3,800 rocket launchers, about 7,000 antiaircraft guns and many airplanes were put into use for various weather modification operations to enhance precipitation in more than 1,800 counties throughout China.

More than 35,000 people were involved.

(China Daily February 28, 2004)