earth science

Royal Rainmaking Project

Royal Rainmaking Project is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Royal Rainmaking Project rather than just read about it. In short: The Thailand Royal Rainmaking Project (Thai: โครงการฝนหลวง, RTGS: khrongkan fon luang) was initiated in November 1955 by King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thai farmers repeatedly suffered the effects of drought.

Key takeaways

Royal Rainmaking Project belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Royal Rainmaking Project to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Royal Rainmaking Project from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Thailand Royal Rainmaking Project (Thai: โครงการฝนหลวง, RTGS: khrongkan fon luang) was initiated in November 1955 by King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thai farmers repeatedly suffered the effects of drought. The king resolved to do something about it and proposed a solution to the dearth of rain: artificial rainmaking, or cloud seeding. The program is run by the Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation. There is no impact evaluation or effectiveness reported.

History The king discovered that many areas faced the problem of drought. Over 82% of Thai agricultural land relied on rainfall. Thai farmers were not able to grow crops for lack of water. Although scientific evidence seems to suggest that cloud seeding does not ameliorate droughts, the Royal Rainmaking Project debuted on 20 July 1969 at the king's behest, when the first rainmaking attempt was made at Khao Yai National Park. Dry ice flakes were scattered over clouds. Reportedly, some rainfall resulted. In 1971, the government established the Artificial Rainmaking Research and Development Project within the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.

Recognition The king received recognition for the Royal Rainmaking Project from the EUREKA organization in 2001 for an invention that is beneficial to the world. In 2009, Jordan received permission from Thailand to use the technique.

Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation The Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation (DRRAA) was established on 15 September 1992, reporting to the Office of the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. The budget of the Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation in FY2019 was 2,224 million baht. DRRAA in 2019 has flown about 6,000 rain seeding flights, up from its yearly average of 5,000 sorties. DRRAA employs 71 pilots who fly 39 cloud seeding aircraft from Royal Rain Operations Centres in Chiang Mai, Nakhon Sawan, Khon Kaen, Rayong, and Surat Thani. The department plans to open new centres in Buriram and Phitsanulok and to hire an additional 44 pilots. In February 2018, with Bangkok suffering under a haze of ultra-fine dust, the government turned to the DRRAA to seed clouds to create artificial rain over the city. The Pollution Control Department issued warnings that particulate levels had soared to 94 micrograms per cubic metre of air in some areas, far above the safety limit of 50 mcg. The prime minister assured Thais that, "...[rainmaking] should bring some relief at least in the short term,..." Fumes from vehicles, construction sites, and factories in adjacent provinces contribute to the smog that contains dust known as particulate matter PM2.5. "The department will continue to check the weather every day and will make rain as soon as possible", said the prime minister.

Technique Agitation: Seeding hygroscopic chemicals stimulates a mass of air to rise higher to create humidity. This helps nature to form rain clouds, and it increases the potential amount of rainfall. Fattening: Fattening of the rain clouds is done by scattering exothermic-hygroscopic chemicals to make droplets of water condense. Attacking: Flying a plane through the heavy clouds accelerates the process of raindrop formation.

See also Chaipattana Foundation Crown Property Bureau Royal Project Foundation Sufficiency Economy Silver iodide Weather modification

References

External links Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Royal Rainmaking Project

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Royal Rainmaking Project claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Royal Rainmaking Project before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Royal Rainmaking Project ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Royal Rainmaking Project

In research: Royal Rainmaking Project appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Royal Rainmaking Project in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Royal Rainmaking Project is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1955 establishments in Thailand, Royal Initiative Projects, Water in Thailand, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Royal Rainmaking Project outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Royal Rainmaking Project in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Royal Rainmaking Project means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Royal Rainmaking Project out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Royal Rainmaking Project in simple terms?

Why does Royal Rainmaking Project matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Royal Rainmaking Project?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Royal Rainmaking Project.