In July last year, the Chinese Communist Party celebrated its 100th anniversary in ideal weather.
According to Chinese researchers, this was not a lucky coincidence. The day before the festivities, numerous rockets were fired into the Beijing sky, sowing small silver iodide particles into the clouds. The goal was to generate rain and clean the air of pollution.
When the president Xi Jinping declared in his keynote speech how the Chinese will never bow in front of foreign forces, 70,000 citizens gathered in Tiananmen Square listened to the words of their leader under a cloudless sky.
China is also adjusting the weather conditions during the ongoing Winter Olympics. It has done so on such a large scale that many climate scientists have been concerned.
– In China, clouds are no longer seen only as atmospheric weather phenomena. Instead, clouds are now considered a water resource used to deprive people, a professor at Taiwan National University Shiuh-Shen Chien wrote in an article in the international scientific journal Geoforum.
Unnatural Olympic conditions
Chinese policymakers aim to make the Beijing Winter Olympics an unforgettable sports festival. You want to get glittery blue sky and bright sunshine for TV broadcasts and pictures.
From the outset, however, it was clear that such an inherent would not work.
The Zhangijakou and Yanqing areas of Beijing and the races north of it are notoriously light and dry.
– Snowstorms are passing through the area, but we cannot talk about the actual winter conditions, such as in Finland or Canada. Although there is little snow here and there, the Beijing Olympics had no chance of getting the amount of snow needed for winter sports, the director of the international research team The Sport Ecology Group Madeleine Orr says Sport.
The Beijing Games are the first Winter Olympics in history, the framework of which is made almost entirely of artificial snow. Artificial snow was also used heavily at the 2014 Sochi Games and in 2018 in Pyeongchang, but not on such a large scale as it is now in China.
The above figures have provoked strong criticism, as the Beijing and Zhangjiakou areas have long been affected by drought.
– The 200 million liters of water used to snow the Olympics correspond to the annual water consumption of approximately 4,000 Finns, Finnish Meteorological Institute research professor Hannele Korhonen visualize.
The creation of snow has required water to be pumped from water reserves located miles away from the Olympic venues. The operation is far from environmentally friendly, as making artificial snow requires large amounts of water and huge amounts of energy.
New York Times (moving to another service) according to Zhangjiakou authorities have stopped irrigating tens of thousands of hectares to save groundwater. It has meant that local farmers living in the Olympic competition area have had to leave their homes.
“The fact that so much water is used to make artificial snow at the Olympics is quite shocking,” says Madeleine Orr.
Competing in artificial snow divides opinions other than because of environmental factors. Some athletes feel that artificial snow, which is clearly harder and denser than natural snow, can be life-threatening at worst.
– The majority of athletes are used to competing in some kind of artificial snow. Artificial snow is often blown on top of the natural snow to make the surface smoother. However, there are safety concerns, Madeleine Orr says.
Clouds aside if necessary?
Washington Post (moving to another service) according to the last three months, at least 250 rockets have been fired into the sky near Zhangjiakou, while 12 airplanes equipped to sow clouds are on standby at the area’s airport.
Experts expect the Beijing Weather Modification Office, under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party, and other knowledgeable units to make even greater contributions to the Winter Olympics than they did at the 2008 Summer Olympics. At that time, rockets were fired into the clouds from 21 stations to prevent them from hovering over Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium on the opening night of the Games. The opening was celebrated without rain.
Sowing clouds may sound Finnish exotic, but globally the phenomenon is anything but new.
According to Hannele Korhonen, a research professor at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, weather modification is being done in more than 50 countries, such as the United States, Russia, Israel and Croatia. China has invested in weather manipulation in recent years without saving money. Yet the international scientific community is not sure if the weather can be truly manipulated.
Exploring sowing clouds is tricky because every cloud is different.
– Scientifically, it is quite uncertain how well sowing a cloud can affect rainfall. It is not at all that every cloud sown can be affected. However, in many countries, especially China, these methods are used on a very large scale. It can be even more a matter of faith than a scientifically justified fact, Korhonen says.
The faith of the Chinese government has been strong.
Between 2012 and 2017 alone, China spent € 1.2 billion on the development of various weather modification methods. The investment has hardly diminished, as in December 2020, the Chinese government announced its goal of curbing drought and generating artificial rainfall in an area of 5.2 million square kilometers. It means 15 areas the size of Finland.
China’s plans have provoked a strong backlash, as the superpower is feared to use weather modification to weaken the position of its neighbors, among other things.
– If weather treatment were to work, it could bring water to areas affected by drought and where crops are at risk. On the other hand, would rain be born away from somewhere else? If China’s weather modification succeeds, what would it mean for the water security of neighboring countries, and would there be, for example, military aspects that should be taken into account? Korhonen ponders.
Great promises
China’s sports management has marketed the Beijing Winter Games as the Green Olympics, where energy is generated only by wind, hydro and solar power. Before the Games began, Beijing factories and households were told to reduce their emissions.
Although China has benefited from its actions also praise (you move to another service), many don’t swallow the argument about energy-friendly races just about. The amount of water used in artificial snow alone is the subject of much criticism.
– If these winter competitions had been given to another place with more suitable conditions, there would have been no need to use so many resources. We need to start asking critical questions about awarding the Games. Where should the competitions be held and what is needed for that? Madeleine Orr of The Sport Ecology Group says.
One issue that worries researchers is what happens when artificial snow masses applied to the Olympic area melt. The soil in the area is naturally dry and is not used to receiving such large amounts of water.
– Previous studies have shown that melting artificial snow can cause erosion and loss of biodiversity. However, those studies have looked at snow that is partly natural, partly artificial snow. It’s hard to say what happens when 100 percent artificial snow melts, Orr says.
Applying for the right to host five-ring races, China promised to bring 300 million new enthusiasts to the Winter Sports. Chairman of the International Olympic Committee at the beginning of the Olympic Games Thomas Bach rejoiced that China has become a winter sports country.
Not everyone is impressed. The surroundings of Beijing, Zhangjiakou and Yanqing are showing glittering acquisitions during the Olympics, but arranging similar conditions for Chinese racing and recreational use in the coming winters is a utopia in these areas.
– On paper, the target for the number of Chinese enthusiasts looks great. It has social and health benefits, it creates jobs and so on. At the same time, there is a big ethical issue here. If these conditions are created artificially, the energy and water resources required will be unreasonable. Nearly 200 million liters of water are needed for the snow produced for the Olympics alone. If it is going to be done in the winter in different places around the country, the numbers will become impossible, Orr says.
Researchers have hoped that in the future, venues with inherent opportunities for the Winter Games would be chosen as Olympic cities.
– We need to think about where it is ethical to increase the popularity of sports. Is it ethical to export any species to any country or do we have to be a little wiser when it comes to using energy and water?