What is Cloud Seeding:

Clouds are made up of tiny water droplets or ice crystals that form when water vapor in the atmosphere
cools and condenses around a tiny particle of dust or salt floating in the atmosphere. Without these
particles, known as condensation or ice nuclei, raindrops or snowflakes cannot form and precipitation
will not occur.

Cloud seeding is a weather modification technique that improves a cloud’s ability to produce rain or
snow by introducing tiny ice nuclei into certain types of subfreezing clouds. These nuclei provide a base
for snowflakes to form. After cloud seeding takes place, the newly formed snowflakes quickly grow and
fall from the clouds back to the surface of the Earth, increasing snowpack and streamflow.

Cloud seeding adds small, ice-like particles to clouds. Usually, silver iodide particles are used.

These particles act as additional condensation nuclei. Unattached supercooled water vapour molecules
in the clouds condense around these particles. Then, the condensed water vapour droplets group
together. This process continues until the droplets are large enough to fall as rain!

What is Cloud Seeding? - DRI

What is Cloud Seeding? | Let's Talk Science (letstalkscience.ca)

Clouds:

What Is a Cloud?

Clouds are made up of tiny water droplets called cloud droplets. Groups of cloud droplets form water
vapour (gas) or ice crystals.

Water vapour isn’t dense enough to fall to the ground as precipitation. Instead, it rises into the sky and
becomes supercooled. Eventually, it condenses (turns to a liquid) around tiny particles of dust in the sky.
These tiny particles are called condensation nuclei. It takes billions of these condensed water droplets to
form a visible cloud.

What is Cloud Seeding? | Let's Talk Science (letstalkscience.ca)

What is Precipitation:

what does 'precipitation' mean?

When we talk about precipitation, we are talking about water that is falling out of the sky, this could be
rain, drizzle, snow, sleet, hail or something rarer! But most of the time in the UK it's rain, so if you hear
someone using the word 'precipitation' it probably means that the weather is going to bring a mix of
different types (or phases) of water falling out of the sky, such as a mix of rain and hail.

It is important to know which type of precipitation the weather is going to bring as it can tell you about
other things going on in the atmosphere, as well as what you might need to do, like taking an umbrella
or getting ready to build a snowman!

Rain

Rain is the type of precipitation we see most of the time in the UK; it is water in its liquid state. Rain can
come in lots of sizes, from big, heavy drops to light, little specs.

Drizzle

Drizzle is also water that falls out of the sky. The difference between rain and drizzle can be quite tricky
to spot, but if you can feel drops, even little and light ones, this is rain, if you are getting wet, but can't
feel the drops then that will be drizzle. You often get rain and drizzle mixed together and the best way to
tell if drizzle is mixed in with the rain is by how far you can see; if it's not very far, and the rain isn't very
heavy, then there will likely be drizzle mixed in with the rain.

Snow

Snow is one of the solid types of precipitation, this means that it is made of water that has been frozen.
Snow occurs every winter in the UK, but some parts may not see snow every year.

Sleet
Sleet is quite common in winter in the UK; it is a mix of rain and snow and occurs when it is too warm for
just snow to fall.

Hail

Hail is another type of frozen precipitation, but unlike snow, which is quite soft, hail is hard and icy.

Other types of precipitation

There are other types of precipitation, but these are quite rare and some need very special conditions to
occur. One of these is diamond dust, which is when tiny ice crystals form in the sky somewhere very
cold; the name comes from its sparkly appearance.

Rain and snow - what is precipitation? - Met Office

Interesting Facts About Cloud Seeding

1. Vincent J.Schaefer invented cloud seeding.

2. Cloud seeding was used in the Vietnam War. The Department of Defense seeded clouds to
extend the monsoon season along the Ho Chi Minh Trail during Operation Popeye (1967–72).
The goal of the program was to deny the use of this major supply route by flooding it.
3. The largest cloud seeding system in the world is China. China creates 55 billion tons of artificial
rain a year and it plans to quintuple that
4. China used cloud seeding in Beijing just before 2008 Olympics with the aim of clearing air
pollution.
5. In the United States, cloud seeding is used to increase precipitation in areas experiencing
drought, to reduce the size of hailstones that form in thunderstorms, and to reduce the amount
of fog in and around airports.
6. In India cloud seeding has been used by the Government of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to induce
rainfall in areas affected by drought.
7. Recent cloud seeding by Karnataka government

https://medium.com/@thanuja.s/cloud-seeding-an-artificial-rainfall-85638b433f4a

Cloud seeding agents (CSA)

Chemicals that are used to induce precipitation are known as cloud seeding agents. The most common
of these substances is silver iodide. It has a hexagonal crystal structure that aids clouds to freeze around
it. Some other chemicals which are frequently used as CSAs are given below:

Liquified propane –

Propane — sometimes known as liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG — is a gas normally compressed and
stored as a liquid. It is nontoxic, colorless, and virtually odorless; an identifying odor is added so it can be
detected. Propane is commonly used for space and water heating, for cooking, and as fuel for engine
applications such as forklifts, farm irrigation engines, fleet vehicles, and buses; however, its applications
are rapidly growing due to new technology developments. When used as vehicle fuel, propane is known
as propane Autogas ( What is Propane Gas? | PERC)

Dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide)

Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. It is commonly used as it does not have a liquid state and
sublimates directly from the solid state to the gas state at atmospheric pressure. It is used primarily as a
cooling agent, but is also used in fog machines at theatres for dramatic effects. Its advantages include
lower temperature than that of water ice and not leaving any residue (other than incidental frost from
moisture in the atmosphere). It is useful for preserving frozen foods (such as ice cream) where
mechanical cooling is unavailable ( Dry ice - Wikipedia)

Potassium iodide

Potassium iodide is a chemical compound, medication, and dietary supplement.[3][4] As a medication it

is used to treat hyperthyroidism, in radiation emergencies, and to protect the thyroid gland when
certain types of radiopharmaceuticals are used.[5] In the developing world it is also used to treat skin
sporotrichosis and phycomycosis.[5][6] As a supplement it is used in those who have low intake of
iodine in the diet ( Potassium iodide - Wikipedia)

Sodium chloride

Sodium chloride is the chemical name for salt. Sodium is an electrolyte that regulates the amount of
water in your body. Sodium also plays a part in nerve impulses and muscle contractions. ( Sodium
Chloride (Sodium Chloride (Flush)) - Side Effects, Interactions, Uses, Dosage, Warnings | Everyday
Health)

Calcium chloride

Calcium chloride is one of the most versatile of the basic chemicals. It has been produced commercially
for over 100 years. The properties and characteristics of CaCl2 make it useful in a large number of
applications. It has several common applications such as brine for refrigeration plants, ice and dust
control on roads, and in concrete. ( Calcium Chloride - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics)

Cloud seeding methods

Various techniques to influence clouds are evolved with time, some of the most vastly used methods are
described below:

Static method

It was discovered by the atmospheric scientist Dr. William R. Cotton. In this method, The efficiency of
rain formation is enhanced by using CSAs. The chemicals used for this purpose such as silver iodide are
ice-nucleating agents. They are introduced at the base of the clouds through airplanes. They interact
with moisture and act as ice crystals because silver iodide has hexagonal crystals, similar to ice.

Dynamic method

This method comprises 11 different stages to encourage precipitation in clouds. It was found to be more
complex as compared with the static method because it uses 100 times more cloud seeding agents.

Hygroscopic Method

https://psiberg.com/cloud-seeding/

Advantages of Cloud Seeding

 1. Cloud seeding can help to increase the amount of rain

One major advantage of cloud seeding is that it can help to increase the amount of rain that falls in a
specific region.

This can be quite important in various different ways.

Imagine what the control over the weather and the precipitation really means.

It can give us the power to control our natural forces and can greatly improve various parts of our daily
life.

Hence, cloud seeding is a promising technology and if we are able to optimize this technology over time,
chances are that humanity can benefit from it a lot.

2. Especially helpful in hot and dry regions of our planet

Cloud seeding can be especially beneficial in hot and dry regions of our planet.

In those areas, water will often be a rather scarce resource and agriculture is often not possible in an
efficient manner since there is simply not enough water available to grow crops in an efficient manner.

Hence, in those regions, cloud seeding can be quite helpful since it can create additional rainfalls in
those regions.

This will be especially important in the future since through global warming, many regions will no longer
be suitable for agriculture due to water scarcity and cloud seeding may become quite important in order
to solve this problem in dry areas of our planet.

3. Cloud seeding can be used in a rather spontaneous manner

Another upside of cloud seeding is that this technology can be used in a rather spontaneous manner.

For instance, if there is no rain for a few weeks and farmers urgently need rain for their crops, farmers
can decide within a few days to use cloud seeding and can book the respective service from cloud
seeding companies.

In turn, farmers can provide their crops with water whenever they urgently need it and don’t have to
decide way in advance whether they want to book cloud seeding services or not.
 4. Can be applied in a rather local fashion

Cloud seeding aims to alter precipitation in certain regions.

This also implies that cloud seeding can be applied in a rather local manner, meaning that this concept
can be used to get rain in a specific region while there will be no rain just a few miles away, at least if
this technique is applied in a proper manner.

Therefore, cloud seeding can be used in a quite targeted manner and can also be considered as a quite
efficient technique.

5. Can help to reduce water scarcity in a region

In general, cloud seeding is a great way to mitigate the problem of water scarcity in hot and dry regions
all over the world.

Water scarcity will be a serious environmental problem that may threaten the livelihood of hundreds of
millions of people, especially in the Southern hemisphere of our planet.

Consequently, in order to protect those people from the adverse effects of droughts, cloud seeding can
be an important tool to provide the local population with sufficient water so that they can still live in
their home countries and do not have to migrate to foreign countries.

6. Cloud seeding can help to reduce poverty

Another important benefit of cloud seeding is that it can also help us to reduce global poverty, hunger
and starvation.

Since water scarcity is a main factor when it comes to poverty, it is crucial that we can ensure the water
supply of people in those regions somehow.

One way to do this is through cloud seeding since this technique can help to increase the precipitation in
dry climatic zones of our planet.

In turn, farmers could produce more crops and the overall level of poverty could be lowered in the
respective region.
Since water scarcity will become even worse in the future, we need tools like cloud seeding to artificially
alter the weather in order to reduce poverty in many regions all over the world.

7. Cloud seeding can help to prevent extreme weather conditions

Cloud seeding is not only useful to increase precipitation in certain regions, but it can also help to reduce
the risks for serious weather conditions.

In fact, studies have shown that cloud seeding can reduce the risk of extreme storms in a region.

Therefore, in regions where natural disasters like serious storms are quite common, cloud seeding may
also help to mitigate these problems.

crops are lost each year due to natural disasters or other adverse factors.

Hence, in order to increase the productivity of farmers, cloud seeding can also help in this regard.

8. Cloud seeding may offer additional employment opportunities

The technology of cloud seeding may also provide many job opportunities in the future.

Since cloud seeding will be needed much more due to global warming and the related droughts, there
will also be many employees need in this industry.

This can be quite helpful, especially in regions where unemployment rates are quite high and people
desperately search for a job.

9. May help to improve the overall GDP in a country

Due to higher average crop yields related to the use of cloud seeding, chances are that the overall GDP
in the respective country will increase as well.

In turn, a higher GDP also implies that the local population will be able to afford more things for their
daily life.

Moreover, also the tax revenue of the local government would increase as well, which also implies that
more money could be spent on important infrastructure projects.

10. Cloud seeding may be helpful to feed our growing world population

As most of us know, our world population is growing at a rapid speed and overpopulation will become a
big environmental problem in the future.
In order to feed all people on our planet, we will have to use our land as efficient as possible and cloud
seeding can greatly help us in this regard since it can help to make desert land suitable for farming, at
least in the near future when this technology will be optimized.

Disadvantages of Cloud Seeding

1. Concept of cloud seeding is based on the use of chemicals

Apart from the many important benefits of cloud seeding, there are also several downsides related to
this concept.

For instance, one problem of cloud seeding is that this technique relies on harmful chemicals in order to
work.

Quite often, large amounts of dry ice, silver iodide or potassium iodide are used for cloud seeding.

However, those chemicals can be quite harmful to our environment if they are used in an excessive
manner.

2. Cloud seeding can be costly

Cloud seeding can also be quite expensive.

Especially since the technology behind cloud seeding is not mature yet, it currently costs quite a lot of
money to use cloud seeding and many poor farmers around the world will never be able to afford those
immense costs.

Hence, even though this technology might be quite beneficial, it may simply not affordable for many
poor people across the world.

3. Can lead to soil pollution

Due to the use of harmful chemicals in the cloud seeding process, also our soil can become polluted to a
serious extent.

The chemicals that are injected into clouds will come down as rain and harmful substances will end up in
the soil.
In turn, in the long run, the quality of the soil will be altered in a negative manner and farming may no
longer be possible if the soil quality gets too poor.

Therefore, in the long run, cloud seeding can actually even decrease crop yields due to related changes
in soil quality.

4. Can contribute to water pollution

Another disadvantage of cloud seeding is that it can also contribute to significant water pollution.

Since the harmful chemicals that are used in cloud seeding will come down with rain, rivers and lakes
will also become contaminated with those substances.

Moreover, also our groundwater will suffer quite a lot since those harmful chemicals will be washed
through the soil and will end up in the groundwater sooner or later.

5. Can lower our air quality

Cloud seeding can also be quite harmful to local air quality.

Part of the chemicals that are injected into clouds will also contaminate the air and winds may spread
those chemicals over quite long distances.

In turn, people living in those regions may suffer from rather poor air quality and significant air pollution
related to cloud seeding.

6. May lead to acid rain

Under certain conditions, the chemicals that are used for cloud seeding may also lead to acid rain.

Even though acid rain is often belittled by the general public, it can still be a serious environmental
problem and acid rain can have many serious effects on our planet.

Therefore, in order to mitigate the acid rain problem, we may also want to avoid using cloud seeding in
an excessive manner.

7. Possible dangers to human health

Another danger of cloud seeding is that it may also lead to serious health effects for the local
population.
The chemicals that are used for cloud seeding will end up in our water sooner or later and if this water is
not filtered and processed in a sufficient manner, chances are that the local population will drink
contaminated water, which in turn can lead to many serious diseases in the long run.

8. Potential dangers for the local flora and fauna

Cloud seeding can not only be harmful to humans, but it can also have serious negative effects on the
local flora and fauna.

Many animals will drink the contaminated water related to cloud seeding and the long-term effects on
those species may still be unclear.

9. Serious altering of natural conditions through cloud seeding

In general, cloud seeding can also be considered as a rather unnatural technique.

Our intuition should tell us that injecting significant amounts of chemicals into clouds and into our air
could not be good in the long term and we should be aware that this could alter our natural conditions
on our planet in a rather adverse manner.

10. Humans should not play god

Opponents of cloud seeding also often claim that humans should not play god and cloud seeding is a
technique that comes pretty close to godlike behavior.

In fact, changing our natural climatic conditions is a rather sensitive topic and we should take great care
not to take our power too far.

11. Plenty of knowledge needed to use this concept in a proper manner

Cloud seeding may be rather straightforward in theory, but the proper implementation of cloud seeding
techniques takes plenty of experience and also requires the employment of highly-skilled workers.

In turn, this also implies further costs since seasoned employees in this field are rare and often also
quite costly.

12. May lead to a lack of precipitation in certain areas

While it may be possible to use cloud seeding in order to increase the level of precipitation in one area,
it may also lead to a lack of precipitation in other areas.

In fact, the total amount of precipitation will not be altered through cloud seeding, only the local
exposure to precipitation can be altered.

Hence, while some areas may profit from cloud seeding, other areas may actually be harmed by the use
of this technology.

13. Cloud seeding may lead to local floods

If cloud seeding is not done in a proper manner, it can even lead to local floods.

In fact, it is rather difficult to determine the number of chemicals that have to be used in order to
guarantee a certain outcome since precipitation depends on many different factors.

Thus, in some cases, too many chemicals may be used and the resulting floods can cause serious
damage.

14. Hard to control the true effects of cloud seeding

In general, it is pretty hard to control the effects of cloud seeding.

The amount of precipitation from cloud seeding will vary due to several different factors and it will be
quite hard to use cloud seeding in a proper manner due to this high level of uncertainty regarding the
true outcome.

15. Cloud seeding may do more harm than good

In some cases, cloud seeding may actually do much more harm than good.

Hence, this technique should be used with great care in order to protect the local population from
serious unwanted adverse effects of cloud seeding.

16. Efficiency of cloud seeding is rather questionable

There are also some scientists out there who claim that the positive effects of cloud seeding will be quite
limited in most cases and that cloud seeding will not have a bright future since it will simply be not
efficient enough in many cases.

17. Long-term effects of cloud seeding are still rather unclear

Since the technology behind cloud seeding is not mature yet and this technology has not been used for a
sufficiently long period of time, the long-term effects of cloud seeding for our environment may still be
rather unclear and therefore, we should use this technology with great care in order to avoid any
unpleasant consequences in the long run.

33 Pros & Cons Of Cloud Seeding & Weather Modification - E&C (environmental-conscience.com)

HOW DOES CLOUD SEEDING WORKS?

Condition Required For Cloud Seeding

Right atmospheric conditions with plenty of clouds that are capable of rain is required for cloud seeding.
We cannot go and seed the clear skies. Clouds form from the condensation of invisible water vapor on
nuclei from dust, pollen and salt from ocean spray. Cloud seeding increases the number of these
available nuclei. Raindrops or ice crystals might not form without these added nuclei.

Cloud Seeding — An Artificial Rainfall | by Thanuja S | Medium

Cloud Seeding in UAE

UAE is one of the few places in the world where the sight of rain makes local news headlines. Residents
here generally enjoy sun all year round, but over the last decade, successful cloud-seeding missions have
been carried out in the country with fantastic results of rain.

With the assistance of modern technology, the UAE has been able to make the occurrence of rain more
probable, and has also been able to enhance the amount of accumulated rain in the emirates.

UAE pioneers cloud seeding:

Cloud seeding in the UAE is not a new phenomenon. The initiative has been operational for over two
decades now.

The UAE is one of the first countries in the Arabian Gulf region to deploy cloud seeding technology,
adopting the most cutting-edge technologies accessible on a worldwide scale and employing
sophisticated weather radar to continuously monitor the country's atmosphere. Aside from the usage of
a private plane, customised salt flares have been produced to meet the nature of the situation.

In 2015, the UAE launched its US$5 million (Dh18.4 million) annual award to help scientists and
researchers in solving global water challenges. As part of the UAE’s commitment to support initiatives in
the field of rain enhancement, the REP unveiled an ambitious new plan at the beginning of October
2018 to integrate the programme’s nine awardee projects. At present, all winners of the annual grant
are running in three different programme cycles.

It is now standard practice for the NCM’s cloud seeding section to use a sophisticated weather
surveillance radar (WSR), which is responsible for monitoring the atmospheric pressure around the
clock.

https://gulfnews.com/uae/year-of-the-50th/explaining-cloud-seeding-in-the-uae-the-modern-
technology-thats-making-it-rain-in-the-desert-1.1628497938429

History of Cloud Seeding in UAE:

Cloud seeding experiments has been conducted by scientists since 1940s. The experiments started with
an encouraging discovery made in 1946 by a chemist working at the General Electric Laboratory in New
York.it was conducted by Mr. Vincent Schaefer in 1946 as he managed to generate rainfall and create
snowstorm in lab conditions. A series of trials followed the initial findings that gave scientists success in
converting flecks of dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) into supercool water droplets. These trials, several
years later, led to experiments for rainfall enhancement. The scientific benefits and belief in cloud
seeding was huge, during the 1960s in the US a project named “Stormfury” was undertaken to try and
weaken cyclones. At the time they thought it was worthy enough to test this method on a range of
Atlantic hurricanes before they realized the system was ineffective. This was due to the fact that the
hurricanes themselves just don’t contain enough water for the chemicals to bind to and have that much
impact. Scientific research and technology development have made cloud seeding a popular mode of
rainfall enhancement, especially in the world’s most arid regions such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan,
Morocco, Libya, and Syria. In 2009, the Chinese government conducted One of the most noticeable
cloud-seeding operations. It was launched over the capital city of Beijing. The Indonesian government
also used cloud seeding to extinguish jungle fires that were sending thick smoke to the capital Jakarta. It
was not easy to control the fire, so they sprinkle salt over the clouds by using Indonesian military
aircraft.

The UAE has been conducting cloud seeding operations since over a decade in order to enhance rainfall
in the country and bring down temperatures. Its cloud-seeding program started in the 1990s. By early
2001 the program was cooperating with well-known organizations such as the National Center for
Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Colorado, USA, as well as the Witwatersrand University in South Africa
and the US Space Agency, NASA. In 2005, the UAE launched the UAE Prize for Excellence in Advancing
the Science and Practice of Weather Modification in collaboration with the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO). This prize was afterwards reshaped into the International Research Program for
Rain Enhancement Science In January 2015, it became the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement
Science (UAEREP). It was initiated by the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Presidential Affairs and
supervised by the UAE National Center of Meteorology & Seismology (NCMS) based in Abu Dhabi. The
UAE now has more than 60 networked weather stations in the UAE, a weather radar network, and six
aircraft for cloud seeding operations. Rain enhancement operations have focused on the mountainous
areas in the north-east of the country, where cumulus clouds gather in the summer. Importantly, no
harmful chemicals are used in UAE cloud seeding operations; our specialized aircraft only use natural
salts, and no harmful chemicals. In 2018, 46.5 mm of rainfall was recorded in the UAE, according to the
National Centre of Meteorology (NCM), despite the country having had carried 184 cloud seeding
operations. In 2019, the number rose to 101.1 mm as 247 operations were undertaken. With larger
amounts of water being recorded in the country, more of it can be retained instead of evaporating as
temperatures drop slightly and precipitation occurs more frequently.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343878504_Cloud_Seeding_In_The_UAE_Research_Paper

Cloud Seeding Process in the UAE

Cloud Seeding Operations by NCM

NMC’s cloud seeding operations focus on how the UAE is reaching all the means to providing sustainable
water resources through encouraging research and innovations that relate to water technologies. The
UAE has an average annual rainfall of 100 mm, which suggests that it is one of the global stressed
countries in terms of water. Therefore, the UAE’s rain enhancement program seeks to elevate the
annual precipitation levels; and thus, enhance the ground water resources. NCM conduct cloud seeding
operations and relies on sophisticated network of radars to monitor the country’s atmosphere at all
times to provide data on clouds. A team of pilots and technicians based at NCM’s designated operational
rooms analyze this data. The team carries out cloud seeding operations with high precision and
efficiency once they detect ‘seedable’ clouds

Explaining cloud seeding in the UAE: The modern technology that’s making it rain in the desert | Year Of
The 50th – Gulf News

According to the UN, about 14 per cent of the world population will face water scarcity by 2025. This
water shortage is expected to be worse in arid countries like the UAE. This is because the region typically
gets an estimated 120 millimetres of annual rainfall and sometimes even lesser. The UAE cloud seeding
initiative is part of the government’s attempt to deal with the existing and future water needs of the
country’s growing population.

The UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science (UAEREP) was launched in 1990. Since
then, the initiative has remained dedicated to employing time-evolving technologies and practices to
create an additional water source for the country. A number of institutions, including NASA, have been
involved in the project.

Of course, there are other ways to secure tangible water sources – desalination plants being the most
viable ones for the UAE. However, when comparing the costs, cloud seeding in the UAE is about 60% less
costly.

Cloud seeding in Dubai and across the UAE has been quite effective. In 2019, around 200 rainmaking
missions were carried out in total, out of which 8 took place in October 2019, resulting in the collection
of 6.7 million cubic metres of water. In the first six months of 2021, the number of seeding operations
increased to 219. These statistics demonstrate the significance and advantages of artificial rain in the
UAE.

https://www.bayut.com/mybayut/all-about-cloud-seeding-uae/

In 2015, the UAE launched its US$5 million (Dh18.4 million) annual award to help scientists and
researchers in solving global water challenges. As part of the UAE’s commitment to support initiatives in
the field of rain enhancement, the REP unveiled an ambitious new plan at the beginning of October
2018 to integrate the programme’s nine awardee projects. At present, all winners of the annual grant
are running in three different programme cycles.
It is now standard practice for the NCM’s cloud seeding section to use a sophisticated weather
surveillance radar (WSR), which is responsible for monitoring the atmospheric pressure around the
clock.

Scientists in the UAE are testing a new method of cloud seeding by using drones, which zap clouds with
electricity. Jolting droplets in the clouds can cause them to clump together, researchers found. The
larger raindrops that result then fall to the ground, instead of evaporating midair - which is often the
fate of smaller droplets in the UAE, where temperatures are hot and the clouds are high.

Cloud seeding missions can only be carried out with cumulus cloud formations, so once they are
identified, the NCM will quickly launch aircrafts carrying salt crystals – mixed with magnesium, sodium
chloride and potassium chloride – that are shot into the skies.

The salt crystal flares then encourage the formation and release of cloud moisture, which then turns
into precipitation.

Gulf News learned that the NCM has six pilots and four aeroplanes to carry out cloud seeding missions.
The aim of the cloud seeding project is to increase the rain droplet to fall on the ground.
https://gulfnews.com/uae/year-of-the-50th/explaining-cloud-seeding-in-the-uae-the-modern-
technology-thats-making-it-rain-in-the-desert-1.1628497938429

How is Artificial rain in UAE made?

The UAE has always been a nation with a keen eye on the future. It was one of the first countries in the
Middle East to adopt cloud seeding technology to increase its existing water sources. The country uses
the latest available technologies paired with sophisticated radars to observe the atmosphere and
related changes at all times. If you’re wondering how cloud seeding is done in the UAE, there are three
different methods.

LOUD SEEDING VIA AIR

Employing an aircraft to drop the condensation nuclei is the most frequently used cloud seeding method
in the UAE. The National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) targets the dense clouds moving over the
Arabian Gulf to increase rainfall yield by at least 15%.

The condensation nuclei contain salts, mainly magnesium, potassium chloride and sodium chloride fitted
into flares loaded on the aeroplane. These flares are released into the cumulus cloud formations, where
they accelerate condensation, forming water droplets weighing enough to create rainfall.

Clouds have two masses of air – the upper draft and the lower draft. The flares are dropped into the
upper draft that sucks them in as they burn the salt particles. The burnt salt particles attach to the
moisture droplets already present in the clouds, resulting in heavier, bigger rain droplets because of
condensation. The salt crystal flares then encourage the formation and release of cloud moisture, which
then turns into precipitation.

It has been reported that the NCM use four planes and six pilots for cloud seeding missions. Al Ain
Airport is the base of these planes as it is located close to the mountains. Once cumulus cloud
formations are found, the planes take off to start the cloud seeding process.

Scientists have also tested a new cloud seeding method in the UAE using drones. These machines zap
clouds with electricity leading to droplets clumping together. Hence, larger droplets fall to the ground
rather than evaporating midway. It is believed that the drone method will eventually replace the aircraft
method.

CLOUD SEEDING FROM LAND

The second method of cloud seeding used in the UAE is the weather modification system. This system
involves ground generators – currently placed in the mountainous terrains of Hafeet and Fujairah. These
generators shoot salt flares into the clouds from the ground instead of dropping them from the plane for
increased rains.
THE CLOUD SEEDING NANO-TECHNOLOGY

Given the overall cloud seeding impact on the UAE, the country is always searching for new and efficient
technologies to create rain. Lately, the NCM has been experimenting with a new cloud seeding method
that involves nano-technology.

This cloud seeding technology uses salt crystals enclosed in titanium dioxide nanoparticle veneers
instead of flares. These crystals are then injected into the existing clouds to make rain particles denser
and more likely to pour down as rainfall.

https://www.bayut.com/mybayut/all-about-cloud-seeding-uae/

Challenges of Cloud Seeding:

Challenges in Cloud Seeding

Cloud seeding operations are very challenging in several aspects such as, reaching the right and targeted
cloud, the right time to seed the targeted cloud, and the right amount of seeding materials to disperse.
The previous mentioned challenges were only with respect to the operation itself. There other
challenges that are faced at the monitoring station during or after the operation is conducted. Those
challenges are: gauging the amount of precipitation resulted from the operation, distinguishing the
seeded clouds from the non-seeded clouds, and figuring out weather precipitation resulted from
seeding operations or occurred naturally [24].

16.1. Challenges Faced While in The Air

The first set of challenges happen before and at the time of conducting cloud seeding operations. The
operations as mentioned earlier must be conducted in timely manner and precisely, therefore, there
must be a sequence of events during the operation to ensure the operation is conducted properly. Some
cloud seeding methodologies like dynamic cloud seeding has 11 steps that need to be insured that are
done in the right way independently, and any failure in a step might provide inaccurate results in the
operation. The clouds that need to be seeded are convective that take the shape of a cauliflower, and
they need to have an initiated moisture content and seeded to increase that moisture content. It is
difficult to measure the right amount of seeding material to seed the targeted clouds it might depend in
the atmospheric conditions of that specific cloud [24].

16.2. Challenges Faced by The Monitoring Team

The second set of challenges happen during or after conducting the cloud seeding operations and it is
faced by the monitoring team at the monitoring station. A cloud seeding operation is monitored via
advanced radars and gauges and dealing with climate changes is not an easy task, as nature is never
predictable. Not all clouds are the same, and not all circumstances and conditions are the same;
therefore, it is hard to predict precipitation out of a single cloud. Moreover, clouds need to have their
moisture content ready to seed and be increased, but usually clouds could initiate precipitation without
the need of seeding specially during rainy season. Thus,

it is very challenging to measure the success of a single cloud. Precipitation might result naturally, and it
is hard to distinguish between natural rain and the rain resulted from cloud seeding. Furthermore, it is
hard to control the operation and initiate precipitation in a specified area, in fact, due to wind forces the
seeded clouds might move to a totally different direction and create rainfall in a totally different area.
Thus, it might be difficult to obtain rain in an area of choice to enhance its features or irrigate its plants
[24].

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343878504_Cloud_Seeding_In_The_UAE_Research_Paper

Conclusion

Cloud seeding is cost effective even though it will affect agriculture soil. Government and human being
should adopt and follow different strategies for water sources management which include rainwater
harvesting, artificial recharge of aquifers, conjunct use of surface and ground water before using cloud
seeding. Another cause is that cloud seeding is found not to be foolproof as of the moment because it
mostly affects the clouds that are already showing signs of rainfall. So, it is not known if it is actually the
cause of rain. In general, trying to cure drought is an ongoing battle, and the latest technology used for
this is cloud seeding. Determining if the technique is good or bad might not be as easy as you might
assume. The opportunities for achieving high rates of progress in agriculture sector and industrial
growth is connected directly with the availability of water resource of a nation, so cloud seeding
becomes the necessity to tackle this critical situation. The cloud seeding technology is very closely
associated with water resource management.

Artificial rain in UAE has helped the country battle extreme temperature, weather and create favorable
environmental conditions for all. Sometimes heavy rainfalls lead to slight inconveniences in everyday
life, but as long as you know how to deal with the rain, you can keep yourself and those around you
safe. Although the immediate aim of the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science is to
increase the UAE’s rainfall and boost freshwater supply, the intention is to generate results that could
have wider applications for countries that might benefit from advances in rain growth technology.
Reflecting the importance of securing our future water supplies, the UAE government is driving the
innovation needed to make rain enhancement a key tool in our efforts to ensure adequate supplies of
freshwater for people in arid and semi-arid regions around the world. The UAE’s farsightedness is not
just limited to creating alternative water sources for its people. It is also determined to excel in
economic and social standards to become one of the

best places to live on Earth. The same agenda is also visible in the UAE’s theme for the next year, 2020
towards the Next 50 years [25].

(PDF) Cloud Seeding In The UAE Research Paper (researchgate.net)