Cloud seeding is seen by many as a quick way to squeeze rain drops out of clouds. Read more at straitstimes.com.
ABU DHABI - Iranian officials have worried for years that other nations have been depriving them of one of their vital water sources. But it was not an upstream dam that they were worrying about or an aquifer being bled dry.
Iran's suspicions are not surprising, given its tense relations with most Persian Gulf nations, but the real purpose of these efforts is not to steal water but simply to make it rain on parched lands. Morocco and Ethiopia have cloud-seeding programmes, as does Iran. Saudi Arabia just started a large-scale programme, and a half-dozen other Middle Eastern and North African countries are considering it.
But several Middle Eastern countries have brushed aside the experts' doubts and are pushing ahead with plans to wring any moisture they can from otherwise stingy clouds. And the demand for water soared as well. UAE residents now use roughly 147 gallons per person a day, compared with the world average of 47 gallons, according to a 2021 research paper funded by the UAE.
The UAE uses two seeding substances: the traditional material made of silver iodide and a newly patented substance developed at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi that uses nanotechnology that researchers there say is better adapted to the hot, dry conditions in the Persian Gulf. Ground crew equip an aircraft with hygroscopic flares that release seeding material in to the clouds. PHOTO: NYTIMES
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