China controls weather 559,000 times in decade   

中国近十年人工影响天气作业近56万次

官方数据显示，2002年以来，中国共组织人工影响天气作业近55.9万次，发射火箭弹90多万枚、炮弹885万发，增加降水4897亿吨。中国人工影响天气作业规模已位居世界第一。

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.