these countries which manipulate the clouds to make rain fall – L’Express

“You see these red spots further north on the radar image? This indicates the presence of showers,” explains Omar Al Yazeedi, vice-president of the National Center of Meteorology (NCM). In other words, the small approaching plane succeeded in its mission: to bring rain to an arid area. Barely back on the ground, Anders Mard, the pilot of Swedish origin, summarizes the operation with a blasé air: “We are seeding. The teams on the ground identify the clouds with the right characteristics. Then , they send us their coordinates. Once there, we look for the place where the best ascending currents are concentrated and we release small cylinders filled with salts and titanium oxide. These materials then spread and promote the creation of large droplets which then fall as rain.

Easy as pie ? Not quite. Seeding cannot be improvised. “The speed of the ascending currents can reach 800 to 2,000 feet per minute. In these conditions, it is better not to try to drink a coffee,” confides the former A380 pilot, who spent most of his career at stay as far away from turbulence as possible. But the game is worth it. According to NCM calculations, seeding makes it possible to obtain 10 to 15% more rain compared to a situation without intervention. And this figure can rise to 25% under certain atmospheric conditions.

For a riverless, desert country that relies entirely on desalination for its fresh water supply, the prospect of being able to wring out the clouds is akin to a gift from providence. “A cloud of one cubic kilometer contains up to 500 cubic meters of water. This is far from being anecdotal,” underlines Sufian Farrah, meteorologist and seeding specialist at NCM. Even if some of it evaporates before penetrating the ground, this helps to swell the water tables.

“We started our research with the army in the 1980s. From now on, it is a strategic program for our nation,” explains Omar Al Yazeedi. “As soon as a cloud has the required qualities, we take off a plane to try to get as much rain out of it as possible.” The meteorological center has a flotilla of four aircraft. Enough to “treat” around 2,000 clouds per year. A single flight sometimes allows 10 to 20 to be seeded in the same day. You have to act quickly because their lifespan, at this time of year, does not exceed twenty-four minutes!

“During the winter, we concentrate our efforts on the mountainous area. On the other hand, during the summer, we have formations in the atmosphere that cross the country from east to west. This is an opportunity for us to “expand the scope of missions”, specifies a scientist. With 300 or 400 sorties per year, the NCM planes do not have time to gather dust. However, the United Arab Emirates is not alone in practicing large-scale seeding. Across the Atlantic, several states also use this technology to encourage snowfall or rain. Utah, one of the most active in this area, devotes up to $700,000 per year. Further north, the electricity supplier Idaho Power invests 4 million annually in a similar program. “Around fifty countries practice seeding,” notes the International Meteorological Organization (IMO) in a press release dating from 2017. Since then, the list has only grown. Alongside heavyweights such as China, India and Russia, we now find other nations such as Thailand and Mexico. In France, seeding has recently been used to prevent hail storms from damaging crops.

But it is the increase in episodes of drought that is increasing the popularity of this technology globally. To the great dismay of scientists who see it above all as a false good idea, for at least three reasons. First of all, the number of studies demonstrating its real effectiveness remains low. Then, the technique only works… if there are clouds. It cannot therefore be used in the presence of a heat dome. In the opinion of several experts, sowing therefore risks capturing precious financial resources which could be useful elsewhere, to improve irrigation systems for example. Finally, its use raises many ethical questions: how far will cloud manipulation go? Do we have a sufficiently clear idea of ​​the possible side effects on the health of populations or the frequency and level of future precipitation? Doesn’t this practice open the way to other, even more controversial processes such as reflecting solar radiation back into space? And what about possible disputes between regions or states? In 2018, in the midst of a drought, an Iranian general accused Israel of “stealing” its clouds and its rain. The start of a new series of geopolitical tensions?

Calmly, Omar Al Yazeedi defends himself: “We have reached an agreement with Oman in order to be able to intervene in the border and mountainous area located further east because it is in everyone’s interest to increase our fresh water reserves And unlike what we see in other countries, we do not use seeding to save the lives of livestock or safeguard economic activities. Moreover, it remains much less expensive than desalination.” Sufian Farrah agrees: “The quantities of materials spread in the clouds remain low. Contrary to what some misleading videos claim, we are not poisoning the sky.”

Rather than dwelling on the possible side effects of this practice, the two specialists prefer to highlight its credibility, based on numerous scientific research. Confident in its technology, Abu Dhabi even helps other countries to make rain fall. With, sometimes, results that are a little too convincing. “Last year, we carried out two missions in Ethiopia. Each time, we recorded record rainfall and flooding, to the point of having to stop operations,” recognizes Omar Al Yazeedi, completely uninhibited.

According to the NCM vice-president, not a week goes by without Abu Dhabi receiving interested delegations from all over the world. “Some ask us what infrastructure is needed, others want to know if we can use it to fight fires… We are already helping Oman and Saudi Arabia. We are collaborating with several Asian countries such as Indonesia or China, even if we don’t make rain fall directly there,” he explains. Abu Dhabi’s ambition is clear: to become a reference, an essential global center in terms of seeding. The emirate seems to be off to a good start. It funds 12 international research programs to the tune of $1.2 million each.