It was quite a surprise for the residents of UAE to see the torrential shower as it is a desert country.

Many wondered the cause for this phenomenon. Some thought it was due to climate change.

There are various factors and challenges faced by arid regions such as the following:

1.       Lack of natural water resources

2.       Limited renewable water resources

3.       Low rainfall

4.       High population growth

5.       High temperatures

6.       Industrial growth

7.       Usage of ground water for agriculture

We need to maintain the sustainability and secure the water for countries especially which are at very high risk of water scarcity.

The cost effective way to overcome this issue in arid and semi-arid regions are cloud seeding. Water security and scarcity is a global issue. UAE has created the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science(UAEREP) to encourage scientists and researchers to come up with innovative ideas for rain enhancement science and technology.  The objective of the program is to improve the efficiency of targeted cloud seeding operations.

This technique can give us more water which can be used for irrigation purposes. It is much cheaper than desalination and is also simple. In UAE, we mostly use aircraft to spray the atmosphere with salt crystals. These crystals are mixed with potassium chloride, sodium chloride and magnesium. Ice crystals are formed which are too heavy to remain in the air. They fall down and melt on the way and pour down as rain. The meteorologists start this monitoring process very early in the morning say by 4 am. They are in look out for warm clouds since they are most suitable. When spotted on radar, pilots are sent to the location and salt flares are fired. These particles attract tiny droplets of water and also encourage condensation. The droplets then collide with others, become larger and eventually fall to the ground as rain. The cloud can also become larger due to this activity. Cloud seeding only attempts to enhance rainfall.

Rockets can also be used instead of aircraft for this operation. It takes approximately 2 to 3 hours for the completion of a single operations. Some of the countries go in for this phenomenon to suppress hail formation to save potential crops and property damage, alter hurricanes, decrease lightning chances and dissipate fog. In order to avoid the effects of long dry spells, boost rain to help farmlands, increase water supply and recharge underground water are a few of the factors while considering this operation for UAE.

A lot of cloud seeding happens in the UAE as there is no other choice. It receives less than 100 mm of annual rainfall. It opts for the costliest desalination for drinking water. When compared to this, cloud seeding is much cheaper.

Image Reference: National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology