China controls weather 559,000 times in decade   

中國近十年人工影響天氣作業近56萬次

官方數據顯示，2002年以來，中國共組織人工影響天氣作業近55.9萬次，發射火箭彈90多萬枚、炮彈885萬發，增加降水4897億噸。中國人工影響天氣作業規模已位居世界第一。

Beijing (CNS) -- China has carried out nearly 559,000 weather modifications since 2002, launching more than 900,000 rocket bombs and 8.85 million shells, according to statistics released by the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) on Thursday.

The number of modifications surpasses those of other countries, said an official with the CMA, adding that rainmaking efforts created a total of 489.7 billion tons of rainfall.

Weather modifications usually take advantage of clouds and precipitation physics, the official said. The effects include precipitation, hail suppression, cloud dissipation, fog dissipation, frost prevention, storm weakening and lightning suppression.

Weather modifications are beneficial to drought relief, disaster management, ecological improvement and emergency response, said the official.

In the next five years, the CMA says it will continue to upgrade its facilities and construct a modern operation system in order to increase efficiency by 3 to 5 percent, and expand the protection area against hail suppression by 5 percent.