The UAE has initiated a comprehensive series of cloud-seeding experiments as part of its endeavor to explore artificial rain research within the country. The National Centre of Meteorology (NCM), in collaboration with the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science (UAEREP), has unveiled a field campaign aimed at assessing the efficacy of various cloud seeding materials, both with and without electric charge.
This research initiative will be conducted from Al Ain International Airport, in partnership with Stratton Park Engineering Company (SPEC), a US-based firm specialising in cloud physics research and instrumentation.
Cloud-seeding: Making it rain in the UAE
The cloud-seeding campaign encompasses a coordinated series of flight missions covering UAE airspace and parts of Oman. These missions will utilise NCM’s cloud seeding aircraft and an instrumented research Learjet aircraft operated by SPEC, which received UAEREP’s Fourth Cycle grant for its pioneering project titled “Enhancing the Chemical and Physical Properties of Seeding Materials through Electric Charges.”
Dr. Abdulla Al Mandous, President of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and Director-General of NCM, emphasised the role of this research campaign in promoting innovative research related to national priorities, particularly water security. He expressed NCM’s commitment to nurturing local talent and engaging them in the development of technologies to increase rainfall for future generations at risk of water shortages. He also highlighted the UAE’s important role in addressing water sustainability challenges, especially as it prepares to host COP28 next November.
Training talents
The campaign also aims to train specialised personnel at NCM in cloud physics research and data analysis from optical array probes and scattering probes aboard the research aircraft.
Ahmad Al Kamali, Rain Operations Executor at NCM, will play a pivotal role in the campaign, focusing on the electric charge emitter, a product of his research with the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. His efforts will ensure the flawless operation of the charge delivery and sensing mechanisms before any flight takes place. Additionally, Al Kamali will continue collaborating with experts from the University of Reading to analyse data obtained from aircraft sensors and probes, with the goal of observing potential variations in cloud droplet size distribution following the release of electric charges.
Alya Al Mazroui, Director of UAEREP, emphasised that this innovative research campaign is conducting crucial field experiments to investigate the findings of the Fourth Cycle awardee project, which aims to enhance the chemical and physical properties of seeding materials through electric charges.
“The campaign will also bolster UAEREP’s endeavour to attract local talent to stimulate the growth and deployment of new rain enhancement technologies,” she said.
Dr. Paul Lawson, Senior Research Scientist at SPEC, highlighted the ongoing strategic collaboration between SPEC, NCM, and the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science to develop innovative solutions that improve the efficiency of cloud seeding operations. As part of the campaign, the SPEC research aircraft will collect initial measurements of cloud microphysical properties and electrical characteristics at various altitudes within a suitable convective cloud target for seeding.
Subsequently, NCM aircraft will execute cloud seeding on the same measured cloud using various seeding approaches, including nanomaterial, large salt particles, and conventional hygroscopic flares, both with and without electric charging. These seeding methods will be evaluated across multiple stages involving diverse cloud targets.
Following the seeding, the Learjet aircraft will re-measure the cloud to observe an active natural secondary ice nucleation process at high altitudes, up to approximately 25,000 feet. This process directly contributes to amplifying cloud seeding effects and increasing rainfall.
