Environmental challenges to operationalisation of South African rainfall enhancement

Abstract

Most of the atmospheric moisture in systems moving across South Africa leaves the sub-continent as the weather systems move out over the ocean, only a tenth of it falls on the landmass as rain. An increase in the efficiency of the atmospheric moisture delivery system by means of rainfall enhancement is therefore an attractive concept. Rainfall enhancement functions by either providing additional Cloud Condensation Nuclei or Ice forming Nuclei that will beneficially influence the precipitation formation process, improving the efficiency of moisture to rainfall conversion. Systematic South African research into rainfall enhancement started in the 1970s. The South African Rainfall Enhancement Programme (SAREP), initiated in the late 1990’s, is the most recent in a series of studies and was the first semi-operational rainfall enhancement project to occur in South Africa as a response to drought conditions.

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