This photo of a cloud-seeding aeroplane flying high above the Victorian Alps was taken to illustrate a story about "man-made rain". (Photo, 1988.)
Cloud seeding experiments – to modify clouds and induce rain – began in Australia in 1947.
According to the CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research, projects included "seeding" cumulus clouds with silver iodide in acetone solution to confirm the hypothesis that:
... substantial quantities of liquid water could, at times, be generated by orographic uplift when the cloud systems were relatively shallow... The dilemma for water managers is that the necessary favourable conditions occur relatively infrequently and the duration of the cloud seeding experiment necessary to demonstrate increased rainfall over a given area makes any experiment costly.
Snowy Hydro’s cloud seeding program (which began in 2004) 'used ground-based generators to introduce a seeding agent into suitable existing clouds' to encourage the formation of ice crystals and increase the amount of falling snow.
The energy provider permanently ceased its cloud seeding program in 2023 following a review that found escalating costs outweighed benefits.
**This photograph is part of an IA series that looks at Australia through the lens of award-winning photojournalist Bill McAuley.**
Bill McAuley's 40-plus-year news career began in 1969 as a cadet photographer at 'The Age' in Melbourne.
He has several published collections, including 'Portraits of the Soul: A lifetime of images with Bill McAuley' and 'Last light on Victoria Dock, 1999'. To see more from Bill, click here.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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