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posted by martyb on Tuesday July 27 2021, @12:21PM   Printer-friendly

United Arab Emirates is making its own fake rain to beat 44C heat:

The United Arab Emirates, parched from heatwaves and an arid climate, is testing new technology to zap clouds with electricity to artificially create rain.

Similar forms of cloud seeding have existing for decades. But the process has typically used salt flairs and has come with concerns about the environment, expenses and effectiveness, according to the Desert Research Institute and CNN.

So the UAE is now testing a new method that has drones fly into clouds to give them an electric shock to trigger rain production, the BBC and CNN have previously reported.

The project is getting renewed interest after the UAE's National Center of Meteorology recently published a series of videos on Instagram of heavy rain in parts of the country. Water gushed past trees, and cars drove on rain-soaked roads. The videos were accompanied by radar images of clouds tagged "#cloudseeding."

The Independent reports recent rain is part of the drone cloud seeding project.

[...] Water security remains one of the UAE's "main future challenges" as the country relies on groundwater for two-thirds of its water needs, according to the National Center of Meteorology website. The arid nation faces low rainfall level, high temperatures and high evaporation rates of surface water, the center says. Paired with increased demand due to high population growth, this puts the UAE in a precarious water security situation, according to the center.

But rain enhancement may "offer a viable, cost-effective supplement to existing water supplies," especially amid diminishing water resources across the globe, the center said.

"While most of us take free water for granted, we must remember that it is a precious and finite resource," according to the center.

[...] So far, rain enhancement projects have centered on the country's mountainous north-east regions, where cumulus clouds gather in the summer, according to the National Center of Meteorology website.


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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @12:38PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @12:38PM (#1160331)

    "While most of us take free water for granted, we must remember that it is a precious and finite resource,"

    Seawater -> sun -> condensation -> sweet/fresh water (you know, water cycles and such)

    It's renewable, but costs money... but hey just spill this it in some luxury:

    https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/deep-dive-dubai-worlds-deepest-dive-pool/index.html [cnn.com]

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @12:40PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @12:40PM (#1160333)

    just like dams over big rivers are international incidents, rain initiation will be an international incident.
    others will be doing it too within a couple of years, and then someone will complain that their cloud was prerained.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @01:04PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @01:04PM (#1160337)

      it is how those pesky brits could be dealt with, wash them out of the isles.

      cloud seeding projects always bring to mind the Sneezooka (I'm not) MAD plot of an Inspector Gadget episode in the 80's.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 28 2021, @05:26AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 28 2021, @05:26AM (#1160580)

      huh? The Chinese have been seeding clouds for a while now - where's the international incident?

  • (Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Tuesday July 27 2021, @12:51PM

    by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 27 2021, @12:51PM (#1160335) Journal

    If ever there was a place that called out for permaculture's water harvesting techniques, this is it. Gushing water is wasted water.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @01:41PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @01:41PM (#1160341)

    hmm... i wonder if they could "tag" the clouds by mixing in some harmless radioactif particle everybody and their grandma (bless her lead coffin and soul) that a little extra radiation is good for you).
    now you can proof that the water is yours and you own it since you made it and all profits go to you!
    with some population uproar over water monopoly a well greased clubbermint framework could be initiated to sell licenses to the radioactif spectrum and thus multiple different "tags" could be used.
    ofc a new iot water-usage-meter with radioactif tag-flavour detector will be ..uhmm..err... recommended via incentives (paid for by increase of the value added tax).
    total win-win. what's there not to luv?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @01:50PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @01:50PM (#1160345)

      i think all the UserXnterface improvments that have been inflicted on you are taking their toll...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 28 2021, @06:46PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 28 2021, @06:46PM (#1160734)

      Sounds like someone just earned a MBA.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @01:43PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @01:43PM (#1160343)

    We've seen the widespread use of cloudseeding but there is little evidence still. UAE is using a method that uses static electricity. Perhaps it may work better than silver iodide, or the rain was just a coincidence lol

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @02:45PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @02:45PM (#1160361)

      If only the UAE had an ethnic studies curriculum, [wsws.org] they'd know the Pueblos had this problem solved hundreds of years ago. "Different ways of knowing".

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @04:42PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @04:42PM (#1160402)

        Farming probably does help with issues like this, but I would at least hope our agricultural science is a bit better than ancient civilizations.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @02:14PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @02:14PM (#1160351)

    What a genious idea: Turn unbearable dry heat into even more unbearable humid heat.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @04:40PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @04:40PM (#1160401)

      I mean it's better because you get drinking water

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 28 2021, @12:37AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 28 2021, @12:37AM (#1160516)

      Emirates/Persian Gulf weather is not dry heat, it's super hot but also super humid.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Tuesday July 27 2021, @02:16PM (3 children)

    by looorg (578) on Tuesday July 27 2021, @02:16PM (#1160352)

    So they are trying to create steam and, horrific, humidity then? Cause that is what you get at 44C when you add rain -- enhanced or normal rain.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @02:59PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @02:59PM (#1160370)

      this is a desert. normally there are huge temperature fluctuations precisely because of the low humidity --- adding water to air increases the atmosphere's specific heat significantly. by increasing the humidity, they will reduce the size of the temperature fluctuations. so it will be less than 44C when the humidity increases.

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by fustakrakich on Tuesday July 27 2021, @04:08PM

      by fustakrakich (6150) on Tuesday July 27 2021, @04:08PM (#1160389) Journal

      Nothing to worry about until the wet bulb gets up to around 35C. The ol' swamp cooler won't be much help

      --
      La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by gawdonblue on Wednesday July 28 2021, @09:27AM

      by gawdonblue (412) on Wednesday July 28 2021, @09:27AM (#1160603)

      UAE already has ridiculously humid air. The average humidity for every month in Dubai never falls below 50%. It is horrible.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @02:52PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @02:52PM (#1160365)

    The Koran clearly states that you should not attempt cloud seeding unless Mohammad turns you down in the rainmaking department.

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday July 27 2021, @04:33PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 27 2021, @04:33PM (#1160398) Journal

      Job 26:8:
          He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @06:23PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @06:23PM (#1160421)

    I don’t quite see how artificial rain is “fake” rain; the stuff is real water precipitated from clouds! It’s the same fallacy as calling artificial diamonds “fake diamonds.”

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @09:40PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @09:40PM (#1160479)

      better to call these things unnatural.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @10:38PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @10:38PM (#1160490)

      Artificial diamonds ARE fake diamonds. Synthetic diamonds are real diamonds.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @07:23PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @07:23PM (#1160432)

    I'm curious to learn more about how the drones produce large static discharges...and how the drone electronics are shielded from what must be similar to a lightning strike.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Joe Desertrat on Tuesday July 27 2021, @07:53PM (4 children)

    by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Tuesday July 27 2021, @07:53PM (#1160442)

    If they make it rain where it normally wouldn't, won't that just cause it to not rain where it normally would?

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @08:00PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 27 2021, @08:00PM (#1160445)

      Yep...once a cloud is empty no one else gets that fresh water.

      However, the UAE sticks out into the Persian Gulf & Gulf of Oman, so for most wind scenarios, that cloud is likely to have dropped its water over the ocean (where nobody takes advantage of it).

       

    • (Score: 2) by richtopia on Tuesday July 27 2021, @09:04PM

      by richtopia (3160) on Tuesday July 27 2021, @09:04PM (#1160466) Homepage Journal

      If the cloud is moving over the ocean, you could say that rain is just a drop in the ocean.

    • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday July 27 2021, @10:01PM (1 child)

      by Immerman (3985) on Tuesday July 27 2021, @10:01PM (#1160483)

      That only matters to the people being deprived of rain. So long as they don't have the power to force the rich to not "steal" their rain, there's no problem
      /end cynicism

  • (Score: 2) by DrkShadow on Friday July 30 2021, @04:39PM

    by DrkShadow (1404) on Friday July 30 2021, @04:39PM (#1161397)

    Maybe this is close enough to the ocean where the clouds will suck up new water readily.. or maybe not.

    Suppose that the clouds (and even mostly-invisible water vapor?) reflect much sunlight back into space. Then, if you drain the clouds, you stop reflecting that sunlight. The result is more absorption of sunlight by the earth. How does this introduction of new heat compare to CO2 or Methane in amount of retained heat?

    Everything we do adds more energy to the Earth, except seeding the clouds to never go away. It feels like the only resolution to global climate change will be to blacken the clouds, The Matrix style, so that the Earth may cool. (Don't worry, though - we need to burn fossil fuels and other forms of energy to grow crops, and that energy will balance out the temperature.)

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