Dubai Flooded After Artificial Rainfall Failed due to the heavy rains in the Gulf countries, life there has now become chaotic. According to various international media, more than 20 people have died in Oman, Bahrain, and UAE due to flooding in various places.
According to Al Jazeera, in the last 24 hours, the biggest flood has occurred in Dubai compared to the last few decades. Earlier, it rained in 1949. Flights have been affected at the world’s second-busiest airport after flash floods caused flooding. This rain and cloud seeding technology in the Gulf countries has become the most talked about topic now.
Then why is it raining in the Gulf countries?
Dubai is located on the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Generally, this region is much drier than other regions. It is considered one of the hottest and driest places in the world. The average annual rainfall here is 73 mm (3 inches). And, the average temperature there is 50 degrees Celsius in summer. However, sometimes there is extreme rain here.
Experts say that the UAE has done cloud seeding to improve the weather due to excessive dryness and heat in Dubai and surrounding areas.
Al Jazeera quoted a report saying that shortly before the UAE rained there, the Meteorology Agency of the country flew six or seven cloud-seeding flights. However, in the conversation with the international media, the said agency claimed that no such flight was made. However, on the other hand, when The Associated Press tracked the flight on Monday, it was seen that a UAE plane took off for cloud seeding.
According to experts, there is a lack of drainage systems to reduce the flood in UAE and Oman. Therefore, even when it rains sometimes, roads and airports are flooded.
Without considering these aspects, it has been analyzed that when the UAE cloud was seeded with the thought of controlling the weather, it caused the biggest rainstorm after seven decades.
What is artificial rain?
The rain that occurs when the naturally formed clouds in the atmosphere rain on their own is called natural rain. But there are some situations such that, even if the clouds are formed, rain cannot occur due to some imperfect processes within them.
Or even if it is raining, it is limited only to the clouds, it cannot reach the earth. In this case, through a special technique, rain seeds are placed in the clouds to make it rain. Which is called artificial rain. The name of this technology is cloud seeding.
What is cloud seeding technology?
Cloud seeding is made up of two words cloud and seeding. Cloud means cloud, and seeding means sowing. To understand its meaning, one must first understand how clouds are formed. Then you have to understand how the seeds are planted there.
First of all, let’s talk a little about the substance. There are three states of matter solid, liquid, and gas. When talking about water, water can be found in three conditions. The solid state of water is called ice, the liquid state is water and the gaseous state is called steam.
Similarly, when there is less water vapor in the air, it is said to have less humidity. The higher the water vapor goes, the colder it is due to condensation (the process of forming water from steam). That is, the same water vapor turns into small particles of water. When small water particles join together, clouds appear in the sky.
The water particles that makeup clouds are very small. If 1 mm of water is broken into less than 100 times, it becomes a particle.
So what is seeding, how is cloud seeding done?
For clouds to form water, there must be condensation. Special chemicals are used to speed up the condensation. Cloud seeding is the act of scattering chemicals in the clouds in the general sense.
American scientist, chemist, and meteorologist Vincent J. Shafer invented cloud seeding in 1943. Scientist Shafern invented the cloud seeding technique while conducting an experiment.
What he discovered from that event is that if the temperature is suddenly lowered too much, the clouds will quickly turn into ice crystals. And it falls on the ground as water. He flew a plane from New York on November 13, 1946, to test the actual process.
On the plane, he had taken two and a half kilo pieces of dry ice with him. Then the plane took it above the clouds and from there broke the dry ice into pieces and rained it on the clouds. Then there is really rain.
The need for artificial rain
Generally, artificial rainfall is applied to deal with drought and flood conditions. Apart from this, it is also used to reduce severe forest fires, unbearable heat or rain, storms, and pollution.
There is a problem in the flight of the plane when there is anger at the airport. Therefore, cloud seeding is also used to reduce the amount of noise. Similarly, when there is large hail, the physical damage caused by it is more. Cloud seeding is also being used to minimize damage by reducing the size of hail.
Then the Tamil Nadu government resorted to cloud seeding technology between 1984-87, and 1993-94. In 2003 and 2004, the Karnataka government also used cloud seeding. In the same year, the Maharashtra government also took its support.
So far, no negative effects of cloud seeding have been observed. However, the incident in UAE can be seen as a negative aspect. However, that country could test it only after making the drainage system suitable for rainwater. Experts have pointed it out as a weakness of the country.
Because the cloud flies and reaches above that place and turns into rain, when it turns somewhere else, the cloud cannot reach that area. As a result, the rainfall that occurs naturally in an area can be affected.