How have sodium chloride particles been used in attempts to increase rainfall from warm cumulus clouds?

In attempts to increase rainfall from warm cumulus clouds—clouds with temperatures above 0°C—meteorologists have utilized sodium chloride (salt) particles as a form of cloud seeding.31

The primary objective of this procedure is to produce "giant" cloud droplets within the cloud. By introducing salt particles, these nuclei encourage the growth of larger droplets that can grow through the process of coalescence. As these larger droplets fall, they collide with and "sweep out" smaller cloud droplets, eventually reaching a sufficient size to fall to the ground as rain.12

To disperse these materials, researchers have used aircraft to release salt particles or water sprays directly into the clouds, while some programs have employed ground-based generators to blow powdered sodium chloride upward into the atmosphere. While some experiments, such as those conducted in India, have reported success in increasing rainfall using these methods, the overall effectiveness of cloud modification remains a subject of ongoing scientific study and debate.134