Unlocking the mystery: How it rains in the deserts of UAE

Khaleej Times

In the past couple of days, some parts of the UAE have been hit by intense rainfall, even prompting alerts about dangerous weather conditions. But have you ever wondered how it actually rains in the Emirates? The short answer is cloud-seeding.

Transcript

00:00 Have you ever wondered how does it rain in the UAE?

00:02 This is the aircraft that is used by the National Centre of Meteorology

00:08 for its cloud seeding purposes.

00:10 This special aircraft is equipped with flares that contain salt crystals

00:22 that can increase rainfall.

00:23 There are 24 of these on each side which are mounted on the wings.

00:29 The key to this process is spotting convective clouds which are perfect for the mission.

00:56 Now we are seeding. The aircraft is shooting salt flares into these clouds to enhance rainfall.

01:01 You might ask why salt? Because salt has a natural affinity for water.

01:06 Cloud seeding has been an innovative solution for the UAE in addressing water security issues.

01:14 As cloud seeding artificially enhances precipitation,

01:18 it can help increase water resources for domestic and industrial use as well as agriculture.

01:23 It can also reduce the occurrence of dust storms and air pollution.

01:27 Could you imagine that this desert could completely turn green one day?

Category

Transcript

Recommended