Two scientists have each secured $1.5 million grants to support the UAE's efforts to boost cloud seeding and improve water security.
The winners of the fourth grant cycle of the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science were selected following a global search, which began with 81 proposals from 378 scientists and researchers affiliated with 159 institutions across 37 countries.
Dr Bradley Baker, of the US-based National Centre for Atmospheric Research, and Dr Luca Delle Monache, from the University of California-San Diego, will use the funds to carry out their three-year research projects, which will include testing in the Emirates.
They were announced as beneficiaries of the grants at an event held at the UAE pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai on Thursday.
The ceremony was attended by Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and Faris Mohammed Al Mazrouei, adviser at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs and chairman of the National Centre of Meteorology's board of trustees.
Cloud seeding has been integral to the UAE's drive to boost rainfall in arid desert climates for decades.
Increasing rain is viewed as key to supporting water needs as well as aiding agriculture, allowing the Emirates to be less reliant on food imports and to become self-sufficient.
More than 100 meteorological stations are located across the country, including a network of radars, custom-designed aircraft and a factory to produce high-quality hygroscopic salt flares for seeding.
Using nanomaterials to enhance rain
Dr Roelof Bruintjes, who accepted the award on behalf of Dr Baker, said that their research proposal involves using hygroscopic nanomaterials to enhance rain.
He said the salt flares the UAE currently uses are too small for the types of cloud that are over the country.
“They are using salt flares, but they are very small. With the nanomaterial, it attracts water more quickly,” he told The National.
“The nanomaterials are salt particles with a nano-layer, tritium chloride, which attracts water more rapidly. Because every crystal in the atmosphere forms on a particle, depending on its size, you get either bigger or smaller droplets.
“We want the droplets and particles to collide quickly, so they become bigger droplets, creating far more efficient rain.”
Scientists at Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa University developed the nanomaterials in the first cycle of the rain enhancement programme.
Dr Bruintjes said his centre would send the nanomaterials into the clouds using an aircraft with a special instrument capable of firing them.
They will perform about 40 to 50 hours of flight time in the summer of 2023 to test the method in the UAE.
The instruments can also measure aerosol particles and droplet size as well as take images of the particles, which will help researchers see the evolution of rainfall in a cloud.
He said measuring ice crystals in the cloud is also important because they can grow bigger than water droplets. Once they melt, they fall down as rain.
Using an artificial intelligence algorithm
Dr Monache’s research proposal involves developing a prototype artificial intelligence algorithm that would predict possibilities of rainfall.
“We use information coming from satellite data, radars and numerical weather predictions. We blend all of this information together to come up with the estimates,” Dr Monache said.
“At the end of the three years, one of the main deliverables would be a prototype of a predictive capability based on algorithms that we develop.”
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Recycle Reuse Repurpose
New central waste facility on site at expo Dubai South area to handle estimated 173 tonne of waste generated daily by millions of visitors
Recyclables such as plastic, paper, glass will be collected from bins on the expo site and taken to the new expo Central Waste Facility on site
Organic waste will be processed at the new onsite Central Waste Facility, treated and converted into compost to be re-used to green the expo area
Of 173 tonnes of waste daily, an estimated 39 per cent will be recyclables, 48 per cent organic waste and 13 per cent general waste.
About 147 tonnes will be recycled and converted to new products at another existing facility in Ras Al Khor
Recycling at Ras Al Khor unit:
Plastic items to be converted to plastic bags and recycled
Paper pulp moulded products such as cup carriers, egg trays, seed pots, and food packaging trays
Glass waste into bowls, lights, candle holders, serving trays and coasters
Aim is for 85 per cent of waste from the site to be diverted from landfill
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
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