UAE cloud-seeding flights use salt flares to make it rain

The effects of climate change have driven demand for water in the country

Hygroscopic (water-attracting) salt flares are attached to an aircraft at Al Ain International Airport before a cloud-seeding flight operated by the National Centre of Meteorology. The UAE has been leading the effort to seed clouds and increase precipitation, which remains at less than 100 millimetres a year on average. All photos by Reuters

Pilot Michael Anstis writes a weather report before the cloud-seeding flight from Al Ain.

An airport employee closes an aircraft door, with hygroscopic salt flares seen in the background, before the cloud-seeding flight.

Pilots Michael Anstis and Ahmed Al Jaberi receive instructions before the flight.

The control room at the National Centre of Meteorology in Abu Dhabi.

An explanatory hologram of the cloud-seeding process in the National Centre of Meteorology control room in Abu Dhabi.

Cloud-seeding flares in the National Centre of Meteorology control room.

Hygroscopic salt flares are attached to an aircraft during a cloud-seeding flight between Al Ain and Al Hayer. At 9,000 feet above sea level, the plane releases the flares into the most promising white clouds, hoping to trigger rainfall.

Hygroscopic salt flares are attached to an aircraft during a cloud-seeding flight. Scientists in Abu Dhabi combine shooting the flares with releasing salt nanoparticles, a newer technology, into the clouds to stimulate and accelerate the condensation process and hopefully produce droplets big enough to then fall as rain.

Flares are released during a cloud-seeding flight between Al Ain and Al Hayer.

Employees walk towards a hangar at Al Ain International Airport after a cloud-seeding flight.

As a twin-turboprop aircraft takes off under the burning desert sun with dozens of salt canisters attached to its wings, UAE meteorological official Abdullah Al Hammadi scans weather maps on computers screens for cloud formations.

At 9,000 feet above sea level, the plane releases salt flares into the most promising white clouds, hoping to trigger rainfall.

"Cloud seeding requires the existence of rainy clouds, and this is a problem as it is not always the case," said Mr Al Hammadi, head of rain enhancement operations at the UAE's National Centre for Meteorology.

The UAE, located in one of the hottest and driest regions on earth, has been leading the effort to seed clouds and increase precipitation, which remains at less than 100 millimetres a year on average.

The effects of climate change, combined with a growing population and economy diversifying into tourism and other areas, have pushed up demand for water in the UAE. The country has relied on expensive desalination plants that make use of seawater.

Officials say they believe cloud seeding can help. Scientists in Abu Dhabi combine shooting hygroscopic, or water-attracting, salt flares with releasing salt nanoparticles, a newer technology, into the clouds to stimulate and accelerate the condensation process and hopefully produce droplets big enough to then fall as rain.

"Cloud seeding increases rainfall rates by approximately 10 per cent to 30 per cent per year... According to our calculations, cloud seeding operations cost much less than the desalination process," Mr Al Hammadi said.

Other countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, have announced similar plans as they face historic droughts.

Edward Graham, a meteorologist at the University of the Highlands and Islands in Britain, said the salt used in cloud seeding in the UAE does not harm the environment.

"In terms of carbon footprint, planes that fly up into the clouds are just small planes, when compared to the billions of cars on the planet and the huge planes doing international air travel everyday, it's just a drop in the ocean," he added.

Pilots based at the UAE's Al Ain airport have to be ready to take off at a moment's notice, flying over the reddish-yellow desert before directing their aircraft into the clouds found on the meteorologists' screens.

"Cloud seeding is considered the second hardest challenge for pilots," said one flyer, Ahmed Al Jaberi. "When there is a cloud, we try to figure out the way we need to go in and out of it and avoid thunderstorms or hail."