The military has been called in to assist a nationwide campaign for drought relief, with the deployment of C-130 Hercules transport aircraft on rainmaking missions, when thick clouds and other favorable weather conditions prevail over targeted areas.
Seven C-130 missions by the Air Force Weather Wing unit were flown in recent weeks to create rain by spraying water droplets over cloud layers at high altitudes, military officials said yesterday.
“We achieved some good results for dam and reservoir catchment areas in mountainous regions, where 5mm to 7mm of precipitation was recorded by ground weather stations,” Air Force Weather Wing commander Colonel Yang Chung-chuan (楊忠權) said. “However, the result was not as obvious for lowland plains areas. This is likely due to a lack of the ‘orographic lift effect’ as provided by the mountains for inducing precipitation.”
Orographic lift happens when air masses gain altitude above rising terrain, decreasing air temperature and raising relative humidity.
The missions supported a drought-relief campaign led by the Water Resources Agency with various central and local government departments, Yang added.
Yang said that in addition to his unit, the 439th Composite Wing and Air Force Command Headquarters provided logistics and personnel support for the rainmaking missions.
The C-130 is also tasked with easing Lunar New Year holiday transportation demands to and from Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu from Feb. 17 to Feb. 24.
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