Marvel of technology. Picture this – You are walking in a scorching day. Temperatures have risen to 50 degrees Celsius. You feel like you are being roasted in the heat of desert. Then suddenly it rains from nowhere. Now that’s how technology has transformed Dubai in UAE. That is, creating its own rain using drones that fly into clouds and unleash electrical charges to beat the sweltering heat. How? The rain is formed using drone technology that gives clouds an electric shock to ‘cajole them’ into clumping together and producing precipitation. The UAE is one of the most arid countries on Earth, and it hopes the technique could help to increase its meagre annual rainfall. This technology is called cloud seeding. The Kshs 1.5 Billion rain technology is being created using drone technology research led by experts at the University of Reading in the UK.
How cloud seeding happens
Microscopic particles of silver iodide are shot into existing clouds using land based generators, drones or aircraft. Silver iodide is an ice-forming agent, which causes supercooled water droplets to freeze in the clouds. The ‘ice embryos’ interact with the surrounding water droplets, and eventually grow to snowflakes. These fall to the ground as snow or raindrops, depending on the surface temperatures. Cloud seeding can also, in some cases, cause the cloud to grow larger and last longer than it would have without the modification. The oil-rich desert nation ranks among the world’s top 10 driest countries. Its annual rainfall stands at 78 millimeters (three inches). Cloud seeding is seen as being much cheaper than alternative methods of obtaining water by desalination.
The drone is armed with an array of salt flares which are fired into a promising clouds to increase condensation and hopefully trigger a downpour. Other method of used in UAE to boost water supply is desalination. It involves removing salt from sea water to make it usable. The Gulf country accounts for 14 % of the world’s desalinated water and is the second largest producer after neighboring Saudi Arabia. The country has 33 desalination plants that provided 42 % of its needs, according to a 2013 report by the environment and water ministry. Desalination is an expensive method compared to cloud seeding. In 2010, four days of heavy rain induced by cloud seeding brought downpours equivalent to the 9 yr output of a single desalination plant. It has also built dams and reservoirs to gather water that flood desert valleys. The country has around 130 dams and levees with a storage capacity of about 120 million cubic meters.
Other places that have used cloud seeding technology include US ski resorts in Colorado which has reportedly used the method to induce heavier snowfall. It was also used ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony to create a downpour elsewhere and keep the stadium dry. The former USSR also apparently used cloud seeding to prevent radioactive fallout from Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 from reaching Moscow. Can we adopt such technologies in Kenya? It will be a game changer bearing in mind our country is a water scarce nation(70% arid and semi arid). Cloud seeding, desalination, use of dams amid unpredictable climate change in Kenya can help Kenya boost its food security.