The United Arab Emirates is tackling high summer temperatures, which can reach up to 122°F (50°C), with technology. By using drones to unleash electric charges into clouds, the country is creating rain downpours.
The UAE’s National Center of Meteorology (NCM) caught footage of the heavy rainstorm the drones triggered. It covered highways and roadsides, enough for drivers to slow down and struggle through.
How the Drone Technology Works
The method of using drones to stimulate clouds with electricity, which helps droplets of water merge into raindrops, is called cloud seeding. Researchers at the University of Reading in the UK helped develop this innovative method of making rain.
The program is part of a $15M government initiative to increase rainfall in the country. The UAE is one of the world’s driest countries and it only receives 3 inches (78 millimeters) of precipitation a year. For comparison, this is roughly 15 times less precipitation than the UK.
The country is also using other cloud seeding methods, like aircrafts to release salt missiles into clouds. This leads to ice crystals forming, which fall as rain or snow.
Risks of a Water Shortage
The UAE’s is facing a water shortage as its population continues to grow. Currently, country relies on desalination, which is expensive and not energy-efficient. Cloud-seeding methods are proving to be a more efficient alternative.
In 2010, 4 days of storms triggered by cloud seeding produced as much water as 9 years of treated water from an Abu Dhabi desalination plant.
To capture this much-needed rain, the UAE constructed 130 dams and reservoirs, which can store 120 million cubic meters of water. The country also plans to direct the rainwater into underground aquifers.
Effectiveness of Cloud Seeding: Mixed Results
Countries across the globe have used cloud seeding methods. The US used them to increase snowfall in ski resorts. In an opposite use case to the UAE, Beijing used cloud seeding to prevent ran during the Olympics in 2008. Despite widespread use, experts are divided on whether cloud seeding is effective or not. Studies suggest these methods can increase rainfall as low as 5%, but also as high as 70%. It depends on cloud conditions.
Still, the UAE sees promise in cloud-seeing as a possible way to fight against the dry climate. This will only become more important as climate change brings higher temperatures.
Reference:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9809529/Dubai-creates-RAIN-tackle-122F-heat-Drones-blast-clouds-electrical-charge.html
