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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has initiated a new research program aimed at enhancing rainfall through cutting-edge cloud-seeding technology. The initiative includes grants of up to $1.5 million awarded to scientists working on innovative solutions to water scarcity in the region.
The UAE’s National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) announced that three researchers from the United States, Germany, and Australia have been chosen as recipients under the UAE Rain Enhancement Science Program. These selections came from 140 proposals submitted by scientists from 48 different countries.
Each scientist will receive a maximum of $1.5 million over a three-year span, with yearly funding capped at $550,000. The research focuses on environmentally sustainable methods to boost artificial rainfall.
Among the winners are Dr. Michael Dixon from Echo Science Works in the United States, Professor Linda Zou from Victoria University in Australia, and Dr. Oliver Branch from the University of Hohenheim in Germany. Their projects will explore the integration of artificial intelligence, new cloud-seeding materials, and land-based techniques to improve how clouds generate rain. UAE officials highlighted that AI will be instrumental in identifying optimal clouds, thereby increasing the efficiency of the process.
Given the UAE’s limited natural rainfall and significant dependence on desalinated seawater, the country conducts hundreds of cloud-seeding flights each year. This new research effort aims to bolster agricultural productivity, strengthen water reserves, and secure long-term water sustainability for both the UAE and neighboring regions.
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