UAE plans artificial mountain to increase rainfall

Abu Dhabi, May 7: The UAE is planning to build an "artificial mountain" to increase rainfall on its soil and has hired scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Colorado, USA, to decide whether the project is feasible.

The Arabian Business said in an exclusive report published on May 1 that the desert country of West Asia is looking to construct a mountain to attract clouds to increase the rainfall.

NCAR scientist and lead researcher Roelof Bruintjes said they were looking at the climatic effects of the mountain, its ideal height and the slopes, the Arabian Business report said. He also said the report of the initial phase will be in place this summer.

The project of constructing a mountain is in line with the UAE's ongoing cloud-seething geo-engineering initiative.

Last year, the UAE sent 186 cloud-seeding missions costing $3,000 per operation. Its cloud-seeding missions have mostly been successful. In fact, in March, the country witnessed a record rainfall and a series of cloud-seeding missions led to floods.

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