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United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

cnbc.com

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Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#11

Post by barbazoo »

> The United Nations projects that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will face absolute water scarcity across the world. The Middle East stood out as one of the most water-stressed areas with around 83% of the population in the region prone to experiencing high levels of water stress.

> Weather forecasters at the center can observe precipitation patterns in clouds and identify suitable clouds to seed, with the aim of increasing the rate of rainfall. Once they spot the right cloud, they instruct pilots to take to the air with their specialized aircrafts loaded with hygroscopic flares on the plane’s wings.

I wonder if someone did the math of what that would look like at scale. How much would using kerosene to deliver the cloud seed material to introduce rain accelerate the problem we're trying to solve here? We can only hope that we find a way to electrify that fleet of airplanes or switch to something that's much less energy intensive like drones.

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#12

Post by gorpy7 »

kibwen wrote: post #4
JR1427 wrote: post #3

I wonder if large-scale cloud seeding could have the effect of taking rain from places that would otherwise get it?

It would have to, unless you also consciously increase the rate of evaporation at the same time. Could be bad news for countries with arid neighbors to their direct west.

I don’t think it can be assumed. if the rain increased vegetation, i wouldn’t rule out an increased water cycle and greater amount of water in the area in general. Honestly, i wouldn’t be surprised if it benefited neighbors. I’m no expert and there are countless variables, maybe a high percentage of the rain used then sent right into the ground as waste water- never to have the chance to evaporate. or never taken up by vegetation at all. Time reveals all, despite whether this was a hasty experiment.

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#13

Post by barbazoo »

justrealist wrote: post #10
JR1427 wrote: post #3

I wonder if large-scale cloud seeding could have the effect of taking rain from places that would otherwise get it?

Possible but a lot of rain just falls in the middle of the ocean, so not a great loss.

If that moisture they're making fall out of the sky is guaranteed to end up falling above the ocean otherwise then sure. Otherwise you'll get conflict.

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#15

Post by djha-skin »

Cloud seeding is illegal in Utah, because you're taking rain that would have fallen on someone else's field and making it fall on your field. Water rights are a serious business here in the desert.

It's not that we can't do these things, it's just that it's not always a good idea.

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#17

Post by globular-toast »

justrealist wrote: post #10
JR1427 wrote: post #3

I wonder if large-scale cloud seeding could have the effect of taking rain from places that would otherwise get it?

Possible but a lot of rain just falls in the middle of the ocean, so not a great loss.

Which will now wash a load of filth from the land into the ocean instead.

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#18

Post by kibwen »

gorpy7 wrote: post #12
kibwen wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would have to, unless you also consciously increase the rate of evaporation at the same time. Could be bad news for countries with arid neighbors to their direct west.

I don’t think it can be assumed. if the rain increased vegetation, i wouldn’t rule out an increased water cycle and greater amount of water in the area in general. Honestly, i wouldn’t be surprised if it benefited neighbors. I’m no expert and there are countless variables, maybe a high percentage of the rain used then sent right into the ground as waste water- never to have the chance to evaporate. or never taken up…

True, while it will certainly remove moisture from the air that would necessarily have fallen elsewhere, it's difficult to say whether or not it would cause measurable decreases in rainfall in places that would notice it. For example, we know that reforestation actually increases precipitation downwind, as trees draw water out of the Earth, which then evaporates out of their leaves. However, a nation that's seeding clouds isn't going to be doing it because they're trying to create rainforests, they'll be doing it because they want agriculture and clean drinking water, and it's unclear whether or not that can possibly give more than it takes from downwind neighbors.

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#19

Post by lm28469 »

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #7

It's amazing how much new tech is getting tested in the middle east. In the next 30 years I think they are the future.

It's a huge pile of dead sand with load of petrol... They're fighting the clock to stay relevant by buying all kind of foreign assets and attracting investors but no amount of tech will change the fundamentals

Re: United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain

#20

Post by dustfinger »

> The NCM said it does not use any harmful chemicals in its operations. “Our specialized aircrafts only use natural salts, and no harmful chemicals,” the organization told CNBC.

How many times have companies been wrong about the harm chemicals they use in products have on humans and the rest of nature? How many times have they simply withheld knowledge of harmful chemicals in consumer products or outright lied?

I think weather control is a mistake because I cannot trust those leading or manufacturing it. Even if someone posts a link documenting the exact chemical composition being used in these cloud seeding projects, it won't mean much to me because I am not a chemist and I am also jaded with a lifetime of reading about companies producing harmful products that they insisted are benign or even healthy. I don't trust what they publish anymore by default. We have to breath the air they are pumping those "salts" into, we have to drink the water.

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