Cloud seeding in the United Arab Emirates

Climate needs

The UAE has an arid climate with less than 100mm per year of rainfall, a high evaporation rate of surface water, and a low groundwater recharge rate. Rainfall fluctuates in winter between December and March. Aside from the coast and the border with Oman, the climate is very dry. The country lies in a dust hotspot, and frontal systems from the west and northwest yield little rainfall. Industrialization and population growth have rapidly increased water demand, depleting resources. Climate change raises evaporation rates and drought frequencies, prompting the UAE to use cloud seeding to improve water security and renewability as a mitigation method.

History

Cloud seeding experimentation began in the 1940s. The UAE program started in the late 1990s, making it one of the first Middle Eastern countries to use the technique. In 2005, the UAE launched the UAE Prize for Excellence in Advancing the Science and Practice of Weather Modification with the World Meteorological Organization. A project beginning in July 2010 costing $11 million USD created rain storms in the Dubai and Abu Dhabi deserts.

The UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science (UAEREP) was developed in 2015, allowing scientists to pitch solutions and conduct research. By early 2001, the UAEREP was cooperating with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the U.S., Witwatersrand University in South Africa, and NASA. The program is overseen by the UAE National Center of Meteorology & Seismology. In 2014, 187 missions were flown; in 2017, 214; in 2018, 184; and in 2019, 247. Tests of nanomaterials for seeding were done in 2020 with U.S. partners.

Technology

The UAE uses operational aircraft-based and drone-controlled hygroscopic cloud seeding, focusing on convective clouds. Since 2021, devices carry electric-charge emission instruments and sensors that fly at low altitudes to deliver an electric charge to air molecules. Hygroscopic seeding uses natural salts like potassium chloride and sodium chloride with hygroscopic flares to enhance natural rain particles through collision-coalescence. Seeding mostly occurs in the eastern mountains on the border with Oman. The country has 75 automatic weather stations, 7 air quality stations, a Doppler weather radar network of five stationary and one mobile radar, and six Beechcraft King Air C90 aircraft for operations.

Environmental impact

Climate change may bring higher temperatures, increased humidity, and greater flood risk in the Gulf region, worsened in the UAE by inadequate drainage infrastructure. Cloud seeding activities in 2019 preceded floods in Dubai that year; the National Center of Meteorology linked heavier rainfall to seeding but said it was not the cause of flooding. Commercial and residential areas were severely impacted, requiring pumps. The UAE planned to invest 500 million dirhams ($136.1 million) on flood protection after severe storms in 2020.

Sharjah has experienced repetitive urban flooding over three decades, and additional rainfall from seeding would require drainage investment. Experts doubted cloud seeding caused the April 2024 floods, attributing them to anthropogenic climate change. Seeding uses salts and silver iodide crystals; a 2017 study recorded increased particulate matter during active seeding months, attributed to leftover silver iodine crystals. The UAE Unified Aerosol Experiment found significant rainfall increases in seeded areas, but over 20 regions showed higher particulate matter concentrations.

Overall environmental impact is difficult to measure due to the inability to perform controlled experiments and difficulty in direct tracing.