Explained: How UAE Creates Artificial Rain, Linked To Dubai Weather Chaos

New Delhi:

Dubai, identified for its arid local weather and blistering temperatures, was battered by torrential rain on Tuesday, triggering widespread flooding all through the desert nation. The unexpected downpour not solely halted the bustling metropolis’s common tempo but in addition sparked worries concerning the escalating affect of local weather change on excessive climate phenomena within the space.

In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), annual rainfall averages lower than 200 millimetres. With temperatures hovering to as excessive as 50 levels Celsius through the summer season, the UAE’s water assets are below immense strain, compounded by its heavy reliance on groundwater sources.

To fight this urgent subject, the UAE pioneered progressive options, considered one of which is producing synthetic rain via cloud seeding, a type of climate modification aimed toward enhancing precipitation. But, how does it work? 

Understanding Cloud Seeding

Cloud seeding is a way that includes introducing “seeding agents” into clouds to stimulate the condensation course of and set off rainfall. The course of begins with climate forecasters on the NCM monitoring atmospheric circumstances and figuring out appropriate clouds for seeding based mostly on precipitation patterns.

The UAE first examined cloud seeding in 1982. By the early 2000s, the Gulf nation’s synthetic rain program had been bolstered by collaborative scientific and technical analysis with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Colorado, USA, Witwatersrand University in South Africa, and NASA. 

The UAE’s Rain Enhancement Program (UAEREP), managed by the Emirates’ National Centre of Meteorology (NCM), spearheads this system.

The scientists behind this program centered on analysing the bodily and chemical traits of the UAE’s ambiance, significantly aerosols and pollution, and their affect on cloud formation. The purpose was to establish an efficient agent to stimulate cloud development and in the end increase rainfall.

Once conducive clouds are recognized, specialised plane outfitted with hygroscopic flares take to the skies. These flares, mounted on the plane’s wings, include salt materials parts. Upon reaching the goal clouds, the flares are deployed, releasing the seeding agent into the cloud.

The salt particles function nuclei round which water droplets condense, ultimately rising heavy sufficient to fall as precipitation within the type of rain.

“The NCM has established a national network of 86 automatic weather stations (AWOS) for weather monitoring, six weather radars covering the entire UAE, and one upper air station. The Centre has also created climate databases and assisted in the development of high precision Numerical Weather Predictions and simulation software in the UAE,” the UAEREP’s description of the method reads. 

“At present, the NCM operates four Beechcraft King Air C90 aircraft from Al Ain Airport equipped with the latest technologies and devices employed for cloud seeding and atmospheric research.” 

Environmental Concerns

Despite the potential advantages of cloud seeding, issues have been raised about its environmental affect and the security of the seeding brokers used. In response, the NCM has taken measures to make sure the security and sustainability of its operations.

Unlike another nations’ cloud seeding packages that utilise silver iodide, a crystal-like materials that has raised environmental issues, the UAE’s program refrains from utilizing dangerous chemical compounds. Instead, it employs pure salts as seeding brokers.

The NCM has developed its personal seeding agent referred to as nano materials, consisting of high quality salt coated with titanium oxide. This materials is at present present process trials and experimentation to evaluate its effectiveness in enhancing precipitation

There have been different issues over “tinkering” with nature. With the area experiencing distinctive climate circumstances like storms and heavy rainfall, inflicting unprecedented floods, some have warned towards meddling with the pure order of issues, claiming that the floods are nature’s method of “pushing back”.