UAE’s Rainmakers Head to the Far East

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UAE’s Rainmakers Head to the Far East

NCMS team travels to Thailand and Japan to discuss programme to boost rainfall

Launched by the Ministry of Presidential Affairs of the UAE in early 2015, the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science seeks to spur new scientific and technical innovations to help stimulate rainfall. The delegation is travelling to Asia with a packed agenda of meetings at which it aims to explain the programme’s objectives and share insights on the latest research in the field.

Omar Al Yazeedi, Director of Research and Development and Training at National Center of Meteorology & Seismology (NCMS), said: "Our initiative is geared to help to advance scientific and technical research in the field of rain enhancement in the UAE and other arid and semi-arid areas around the world, in order to use these techniques to increase reserves of potable water. Through our road show to Thailand and Japan, we hope to demonstrate that the UAE is actively committed to supporting global efforts to strengthen water resilience through research and development in the science and technology specific to this field."

Thailand is the first port of call for the programme delegation prior to moving on to Japan.

The delegates are meeting experts and stakeholders from a range of meteorological research organisations conducting cutting-edge research on rain enhancement and climate forecasting.

Of particular interest to the UAE team is Thailand’s strong record of successful operations to boost rainfall in water basins and agricultural areas. The road show delegation is also seeking to gain a better understanding of the work carried out by Japanese scientists on precipitation assessment and cloud seeding in hot and cold climates.

The UAE team is promoting the programmeme’s aim of encouraging substantive international cooperation in the field of rain enhancement and work to develop enduring links with the interested stakeholders and the scientific community in both Thailand and Japan. As well as outlining details of the programme, the road show also seeks to highlight the programme’s potential benefits for drought-prone countries worldwide.

The UAE is taking a global lead in promoting water security as part of its ‘Year of Innovation’ in 2015. The UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science has seen a remarkable level of international interest since it was announced at the beginning of this year. In total, 325 scientists and researchers affiliated to 151 organisations have applied to participate.

These applicants, drawn from 34 countries around the world, cooperated as scientific teams on the submission of a total of 78 pre-proposals to the programme. Researchers from Japan submitted two pre-proposals per country, while one application was received from Thailand.

Source: Emirates 247

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