Tuesday’s intense rainstorm devastated Dubai, a desert nation renowned for its scorching heat and dry atmosphere. This resulted in extensive flooding across the country. The unexpected deluge not only stopped the busy city’s normal pace, but it also raised concerns about the growing impact of climate change on local extreme weather events. Significant damage to homes and businesses, as well as at least one fatality, have been recorded by the authorities.
After Tuesday’s powerful thunderstorms, which pounded the United Arab Emirates, Dubai saw heavy flooding. In a matter of hours, the desert city-state received more rain than it does in a year and a half. One of the busiest airports for international travel in the world, Dubai International Airport, had disruptions to major highways and operations due to the storm, which worsened about nine in the morning on Tuesday.
Comprehending Cloud Seeding
The process of “seeding agents” into clouds in order to encourage condensation and precipitation is known as cloud seeding. Weather forecasters at the NCM start the procedure by keeping an eye on atmospheric conditions and using precipitation patterns to identify clouds that would be good candidates for seeding.
Cloud seeding was first tested in the UAE in 1982. Collaborative scientific and technical research with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Colorado, USA, Witwatersrand University in South Africa, and NASA had strengthened the Gulf nation’s artificial rain program by the early 2000s.
The Rain Enhancement Program (UAEREP) of the UAE
The initiative is led by UAEREP, which is run by the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) of the Emirates. The program’s scientists concentrated on examining the physical and chemical properties of the UAE’s atmosphere, especially aerosols and pollutants, and how these affected the development of clouds. Finding a potent chemical to promote cloud formation and eventually increase rainfall was the goal.
“For weather monitoring, the NCM has set up a nationwide network of 86 automatic weather stations (AWOS), six weather radars that cover the whole United Arab Emirates, and one upper air station. The approach is described by the UAEREP as follows: “The Center has also developed climate databases and helped with the development of high precision numerical weather predictions and simulation software in the UAE.”
“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
Cloud seeding has been shown to have potential advantages, although questions have been raised concerning its effects on the environment and the safety of the seeding substances utilized. As a result, the NCM has taken steps to guarantee the longevity and safety of its activities.
The UAE’s cloud seeding program avoids the use of hazardous chemicals, in contrast to some other nations’ that make use of silver iodide, a substance that resembles crystals and has sparked environmental worries. Rather, it uses organic salts as seeding agents.
The UAE’s creative use of cloud seeding to solve its water crisis shows its dedication to coming up with long-term fixes for environmental problems. Initiatives like UAEREP serve as examples of preemptive steps that countries can take to lessen the impact of extreme weather occurrences as the consequences of climate change become more noticeable.
