By Diya Shammo
“A feasibility study should be conducted to determine if cloud seeding is beneficial in Qatar,” Dr Roelof T Bruintjes, a project scientist from the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in the US, has said.
Addressing a press conference at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture yesterday, the expert described cloud seeding as a technique for producing rain in areas experiencing drought.
“Chemicals like silver iodide are dispersed into the air to allow water droplets or ice crystals to form more easily, and lead to rain,” said the visiting expert who also gave a presentation on the topic.
It would be ideal if all the countries in the region collaborated in this regard, he suggested, while recalling that the UAE had successfully conducted cloud seeding in the recent past.
Answering a question from the head of the General Department for Agricultural Research and Development (GDARD), Sheikh Falih bin Naser al- Thani, Dr Bruintjes said that the cost of the feasibility study was about QR5mn.
“Cloud seeding is cost-effective compared to the other technologies,” he stressed, while stating that the increase in rain through the process generally ranges from 50% to 100%.
The small size of Qatar would not affect the success of cloud seeding, as the project has been conducted in smaller areas and the percentage of rain increased.
However, air pollution negatively affects cloud seeding as well as natural rainfall in general.
A feasibility study would last two years. The main equipment needed for the study include mobile radar, and a special kind of aeroplane.
Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ)’s assistant professor Dr Ahmad Abdulwahhab told the gathering that the Department of Agricultural Research had started discussions regarding cloud seeding with the Supreme Council of Environment and Natural Reserves, Qatar Petroleum, Civil Aviation Authority, and the Meteorology Department, and TAMUQ.
GDARD’s water resources expert Dr Kamel Amer, TAMUQ’s Dr Don Collins, Dr Sarah Brooks, and Jerry Guynes, and just-clouds.com (a seeding operations and atmospheric research firm from Texas) project director and chief meteorologist Duncen Axisa were also present on the occasion. |
