A meteorologist has warned of looming ‘weather wars’ between countries if ‘cloud seeding’ gets out of hand – after flooding in Dubai spawned concerns about artificially manipulating the rainfall.
Johan Jaques, a senior meteorologist at environmental technology company KISTERS, warned there could be ‘unintended consequences’ to using the relatively young technology, potentially leading to ‘diplomatic instability’.
‘Any time we interfere with natural precipitation patterns, we set off a chain of events that we have little control over,’ he said.
‘Interference with the weather also raises all kinds of ethical questions, as changing the weather in one country could lead to perhaps unintended yet catastrophic impacts in another. After all, the weather does not recognise international borders.’
Extreme weather, and concerns about climate change and possible manipulation, have received attention in recent days with flooding in Dubai causing widespread disruption and damage to infrastructure.
Hellbound and Down 