The United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) was baked by temperature of over 50 ° deoxycytidine monophosphate ( 112 ° F ) last calendar month , but after weeks of oppressive heat and drought , the heavens have finally opened — apparently thanks to their army of cloud - seed poke and aircraft .
The UAE’sNational Centre of Meteorology(NCM)recently posted a video of car driving through a flood of rainfall in Ras al Khaimah in the northern part of the country , followed by another rainy day near Al Wagan Airport . Over the past weekend , weather reportswere filled with warnings of heavy rain across the land , from Dubai to Abu Dhabi .
On Twitter , the NCMlater hintedthatmuch of the unseasonal waterspout in the area is due to their multi - million - clam cloud seeding campaign . The weather federal agency also toldGulf Newsthat late showery days in the part were attributable to their rain enhancement projects . However , it ’s also notable that the UAE has latterly know an strange menstruation ofunsettled weather condition .
The issue of water system security is sic to be one of the UAE ’s biggest hurdle this century . Theaverage annual rainfallin the cap Abu Dhabi comes in at just 42 mm ( 1.7 column inch ) and most of this falls on just a few day in winter . As the climate crisis deepens , much of the Middle East and North Africa energise forfurther declines in rainfalland droughts that are longer , deeper , and more frequent .
Clearly mindful of this problem , the UAE has been pumping money into multiple pelting sweetening project for decades . According to theUAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science , the country ’s rain enhancement project kicked off in the 1990s along with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the US and NASA . Recent years have seen the Gulf body politic well and truly ramp up its rain enhancement programme . In the first 6 months of 2020 alone , the UAElaunched219 cloud seeding operations across the country .
Techniques can vary , but the process by and large involves woodworking plane fitted with special flares that shoot out silver iodide or other crystalline particles that have a structure similar to methamphetamine hydrochloride into clouds . These particles act as the nucleus for the constitution of an sparkler crystal in the atmosphere , like seminal fluid for rain droplets . Another lately developed techniqueinvolves flyingan electrically - charged dawdler into a swarm , boost tiny water droplets to grow and merge , and eventually fall .
However , not all scientist are win over that cloud come is an efficient mean value of simulate rainwater . Some studieshave found that cloud - seeding had little - to - no wallop on the amount of rainfall in given reasonableness , while othershave foundit may have some important impingement on hurriedness .
According to thestatistics from the UAE , old seeding operations have conduct to a 15 to 35 percent increase in rainfall , calculate on the amount of sandy rubble in the atmosphere . However , when you see the country ’s average rainfall is around 42 millimeter ( 1.7 inches ) , these statistics do n’t fathom overly telling .
