Can we manipulate the weather long term enough to turn a desert into an oasis?

[Diceroller]

I was reading earlier about the Chinese firing rockets of liquid nitrogen to bring rain. Is it possible if we imported many hardy plants and seeds to the sahara desert and pumped water and sprinklers etc over thousands of miles as well as firing liquid nitrogen dry ice or silver iodide that we could eventually make the desert start it's own weather system?

[boxtops]

It's possible, but it doesn't always work. They say that the Chinese rainmaking went awry and partly caused the floods in America, the rain came in the wrong place. They are already growing spuds in the desert in Egypt, thanks to new watering systems.

[wildwood]

Very possible and it is done already in a small way. The bigger areas that would support large scale agriculture need a lot of water though, this is sometimes more valuable than oil in a desert. Until more efficient desalination method can be found so seawater can be pumped in, it is not feasable.

Another worry on the large scale is that it will eventually change the weather for surrounding areas, affecting the whole biosphere.

[Diceroller]

I've never heard that until now boxtops and will do some research. Wildwood would this change be everlasting?

[rov1100]

Russia is very skilled at this technique. A few years ago they caused a downpour during a British pop concert in Moscow.

[argorstran]

I am very sceptical about the weather manipulation techniques you have described . I think that improving irrigation systems and sinking bore holes to obtain local ground water supplies is a much better bet for making the desert bloom