Although records seem to show rain in the UAE to be decreasing, Masdar Institute scientists say that it is actually increasing. Fatima Al Marzooqi / The National
Although records seem to show rain in the UAE to be decreasing, Masdar Institute scientists say that it is actually increasing. Fatima Al Marzooqi / The National

Surprise pattern in Masdar’s rain model



ABU DHABI // Masdar Institute scientists have developed a model to predict the amount of rainfall for a given year.

Their study, published in the Journal of Hydrology, is the first time scientists have investigated how climate variability – a natural phenomenon different to human-induced climate change – is affecting the UAE.

“You have years with more rain than others, you have years that are hotter than others, and that variability we have to model and understand its causes,” said Prof Taha Ouarda, who led the research.

UAE records, which have only been kept since 1975, show that overall, rainfall appears to be decreasing, which many scientists attributed to human-induced climate change.

But when more advanced methods were applied to data from four weather stations in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, a different picture emerged.

“A lot of people were looking at the signal in rainfall, the fact that it is decreasing and thinking it is climate change – that rain is decreasing in this part of the world,” said Prof Ouarda.

The team looked at three variables – events bringing maximum amounts of rain, the total amount of rain in a year, and the number of rainy days – with the data collected from 1975 or 1980 to the present day.

“Although statistically the whole sequence is decreasing, when we look in detail we see that, actually, there is a first period that seems to be increasing [in rainfall], then there is a sharp drop, then there is a second period that seems to be increasing,” said Prof Ouarda, who is also the head of iWater, a research centre within Masdar.

The year when all three variables registered a drop was 1999.

“Overall, the characteristics are going down but if you decompose it into two, we see that there is an increase, then a sharp decrease and an increase again, and we see this in every single variable,” said Prof Ouarda.

“The key point here is that rainfall in the UAE is actually increasing, if it were not for that sharp drop that we observed in 1999, and we tried to understand what that sharp drop is caused by.”

The team analysed data about climate oscillations. They are repetitive, natural variations in the Earth’s ocean and atmosphere that affect ocean currents, carrying warm or cool water across vast distances, thus affecting global weather.

“What we have demonstrated in the past is that the climate of the Earth is modulated by currents, which when strong affect climate in one way, and when they are not strong affect it in another way,” Prof Ouarda said.

The drop in rainfall in the UAE in 1999 corresponded to recorded changes in six climate oscillations.

“There are a number of oscillation indices that seem to influence our climate and all these indices went through change in 1999,” he said. “And that is what explains this change in the characteristics of rainfall that occurred in 1999 when we had increasing rain, then a sharp decrease and then we started observing an increase again.”

Prof Ouarda said this proved that the UAE rainfall trends investigated by the team were associated with natural variations in climate rather than permanent, man-made climate change.

The research also allows scientists to predict what kind of weather the UAE can expect.

“We can predict how much rain we are going to be getting in a given year in the UAE, in advance, the year before, just based on the state of these indices,” Prof Ouarda said.

“There are scientific impacts because we are understanding climate, but there are also practical, economic and engineering impacts because this kind of information is very important for the management of engineering systems.”

Prof Ouarda is involved in research into whether the Abu Dhabi’s urban drainage systems has enough capacity to remove water during times of peak rain.

He is also directing an effort to model wind speeds throughout the year, which could better inform decisions to invest in wind power, as well as public health concerns related to dust in the air.

vtodorova@thenational.ae

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Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
High profile Al Shabab attacks
  • 2010: A restaurant attack in Kampala Uganda kills 74 people watching a Fifa World Cup final football match.
  • 2013: The Westgate shopping mall attack, 62 civilians, five Kenyan soldiers and four gunmen are killed.
  • 2014: A series of bombings and shootings across Kenya sees scores of civilians killed.
  • 2015: Four gunmen attack Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya and take over 700 students hostage, killing those who identified as Christian; 148 die and 79 more are injured.
  • 2016: An attack on a Kenyan military base in El Adde Somalia kills 180 soldiers.
  • 2017: A suicide truck bombing outside the Safari Hotel in Mogadishu kills 587 people and destroys several city blocks, making it the deadliest attack by the group and the worst in Somalia’s history.
Hili 2: Unesco World Heritage site

The site is part of the Hili archaeological park in Al Ain. Excavations there have proved the existence of the earliest known agricultural communities in modern-day UAE. Some date to the Bronze Age but Hili 2 is an Iron Age site. The Iron Age witnessed the development of the falaj, a network of channels that funnelled water from natural springs in the area. Wells allowed settlements to be established, but falaj meant they could grow and thrive. Unesco, the UN's cultural body, awarded Al Ain's sites - including Hili 2 - world heritage status in 2011. Now the most recent dig at the site has revealed even more about the skilled people that lived and worked there.

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1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away

It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.

The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.

But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.

At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.

The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.

After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.

Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.

And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.

At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.

And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.

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Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

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Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a  month before Reaching the Last Mile.

Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

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Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

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Their favourite city: Dubai

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Their favourite past-time : walking on the beach

Their favorite quote: ‘we rise by lifting others’ by Robert Ingersoll

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Director: M Night Shyamalan

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Directed by: Matt Shakman

Rating: Four stars

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Squads

Sri Lanka Tharanga (c), Mathews, Dickwella (wk), Gunathilaka, Mendis, Kapugedera, Siriwardana, Pushpakumara, Dananjaya, Sandakan, Perera, Hasaranga, Malinga, Chameera, Fernando.

India Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rohit, Rahul, Pandey, Rahane, Jadhav, Dhoni (wk), Pandya, Axar, Kuldeep, Chahal, Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar, Thakur.

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

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Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

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Pots for the Asian Qualifiers

Pot 1: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China
Pot 2: Iraq, Uzbekistan, Syria, Oman, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic, Vietnam, Jordan
Pot 3: Palestine, India, Bahrain, Thailand, Tajikistan, North Korea, Chinese Taipei, Philippines
Pot 4: Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Yemen, Afghanistan, Maldives, Kuwait, Malaysia
Pot 5: Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Guam, Macau/Sri Lanka

Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
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Mageed Yahia, director of WFP in UAE: Coronavirus knows no borders, and neither should the response

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Joker: Folie a Deux

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson

Director: Todd Phillips 

Rating: 2/5

In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
  • Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000 
  • Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000 
  • HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000 
  • Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000 
  • Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000 
  • Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000 
  • Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000 
  • Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
  • Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
  • Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
JAPAN SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Masaaki Higashiguchi, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Sho Sasaki, Hiroki Sakai, Sei Muroya, Genta Miura, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Midfielders: Toshihiro Aoyama, Genki Haraguchi, Gaku Shibasaki, Wataru Endo, Junya Ito, Shoya Nakajima, Takumi Minamino, Hidemasa Morita, Ritsu Doan
Forwards: Yuya Osako, Takuma Asano, Koya Kitagawa

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