Saudi Arabia is a state located in one of the most extreme climates in the world, in the middle of the desert, and the country’s multi-billion dollar government is launching all kinds of initiatives to fight the extreme drought.
One such initiative is the so-called ‘cloud seeding’. As reported in a report by the Mirrorcloud seeding aims to improve the ability of a cloud to produce rain or snow by introducing tiny ice nuclei into certain types of clouds at sub-zero temperatures.
This is a complicated process that, in essence, involves an aircraft that can be used to drop tiny particles, such as silver iodideThis allows the vapor to condense and turn more easily into rain.
Countries such as the United Arab Emirates have used this technique to address water shortages and in fact, it was erroneously blamed for causing flooding in Dubai in April this year.but experts say it is highly unlikely that cloud seeding had any effect on the flooding. A more likely factor was climate change.
Saudi Arabia has been using aircraft and drones to seed clouds in six selected areas, among them. Hail, Qassim and near the capital, Riyadh. Near Hail is Nafud, a desert 290 kilometers long and 225 kilometers wide that is mostly barren except for a few grassy areas.
Ayman Al-Bar, executive director of the Regional Cloud Seeding Program, told the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) that selective planting can increase rainfall by up to 20%. Al-Bar said the Kingdom expects “improve water security.”
“Our approach is designed to improve both the quantity and the quality of the precipitation from specific cloud types.”Al-Bar added, according to the same source.
“The initiative has now entered its fifth phase, marking a new milestone in the country’s efforts to improve water security. Our approach is designed to improve both the quantity and quality of precipitation from specific cloud types,” he added.