Although cloud seeding is a commonly used and plausible method for rainfall enhancement, its practical efficacy has not been established for seeding of convective clouds with hygroscopic materials. Other methods of rainfall enhancement are viewed as much less plausible. Thus, although increased electrical charge has been shown to enhance precipitation in cloud chamber experiments, exactly how ionisation of clouds can increase rainfall in the open atmosphere remains conjectural. A trial of the efficacy of ionisation for rainfall enhancement in the Hajar Mountains of Oman was carried out over 2013–2018. This paper provides some background to this non-mainstream approach to increasing rainfall, showing how statistical modelling of rainfall data might be used to nudge rainfall enhancement via ionisation towards a more scientifically acceptable status. Analysis of the data collected in the trial shows that ionisation led to a statistically significant enhancement in positive rainfall in gauges located up to 70 km downwind of the ionisers. A headline analysis specified prior to commencement of the trial resulted in an estimate of 16.23% enhancement relative to rainfall that would have fallen without any ionisation, while a more sophisticated after the event analysis increased this estimate to 17.64%.

中文翻译：

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将伪科学推向科学——统计学在阿曼增雨试验中的作用

虽然播云是一种常用且合理的增雨方法，但尚未确定其在使用吸湿材料播种对流云方面的实际效果。其他增强降雨的方法被认为不太合理。因此，尽管在云室实验中已显示增加的电荷会增加降水，但云的电离究竟如何增加开放大气中的降雨仍然是推测性的。在 2013-2018 年期间，在阿曼的 Hajar 山脉进行了电离增强降雨效果的试验。本文为这种增加降雨的非主流方法提供了一些背景，展示了如何使用降雨数据的统计建模来通过电离推动降雨增强，使其达到更科学可接受的状态。对试验中收集的数据的分析表明，电离导致位于电离器下风向 70 公里的仪表中正降雨量显着增加。在试验开始之前指定的标题分析导致估计相对于没有任何电离的降雨量增加了 16.23%，而更复杂的事后分析将该估计值增加到 17.64%。