The ice damage mitigation system worked effectively this year as well

(Photo: Pixabay)

While this year there was an exceptionally high amount of ice damage in several countries in Europe and North America, in Hungary, thanks to the ice damage mitigation system, only much smaller damage occurred.

The ice damage mitigation system served well this year as well

After last year’s extremely dry year, significantly more precipitation fell in 2023, and several violent thunderstorms occurred, which were sometimes accompanied by small hail and flash floods. At the same time, the operation of the ice damage mitigation system also contributed to reducing the damage caused by hail this year. Looking at the neighboring countries, it can be seen that the amount of damage caused by hail was negligible compared to the damage registered there. So much so that in many countries, the idea of building an ice damage mitigation system with ground generators, which has been operating with full coverage since 2018, has arisen in our country. Extremes due to climate change are occurring more and more frequently around the world – such as drought, torrential rain, flash floods, huge pieces of ice – in the future, increased adaptation will be needed everywhere, one of which is an important element of the ice damage mitigation system. The system that sends silver iodide into the clouds from 986 points in the country – with the help of 219 automatic and 767 manual soil generators – prevents tens of billions of forints in damage to agriculture every year, and also protects residential, industrial and state facilities, real estate and chattels. This year was the sixth year of operation of the system built by NAK, and the Ministry of Agriculture provides a maximum of HUF 1.8 billion per year from the Damage Mitigation Fund for its operation. According to calculations, every HUF spent on the system saves about HUF 33 in production value, which means HUF 50 billion in production value saved annually. In our country this year, basically, one rougher supercell (against which there is no defense anywhere in the world) typically only caused major damage in a narrower area.

The overall results achieved by the defense speak volumes

For example, in 2022, farmers reported ice damage to only 28,400 hectares, while in 2017, the last year when the national system was not in operation, it was more than twice as large, to 72,000 hectares. In the protection period of 2023, ice damage was reported for 30,678 hectares, which represents an 8 percent increase compared to the reported damage area reported in the previous extremely drought year. In 2023, during the defense season between April 15 and September 30, the ground generators had to be switched on for 96 days, for a total of 176,639 operating hours.

The generators burn an active substance containing silver iodide, which rises up into the clouds, reducing the size of the ice grains that form there

The probability of the occurrence of hail cannot be completely ruled out, but it can be guaranteed that the size of falling ice particles will be smaller than those that would fall without the use of the system. During the rest of the year, maintenance work on the system will be carried out, preparing it for the next defense season starting in the spring of 2024.

NAK