• Fourth-cycle projects to be implemented over three years period under direct follow-up of NCM experts
  • New awardee projects to help break new ground in cloud seeding research

Abu Dhabi-UAE: The National Center of Meteorology (NCM) announced that the implementation of the research projects that received the fourth cycle grant of the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science kicked off on the 1st March, 2022, and will run for a period of three years. The announcement was made following the preparatory meetings with the awardee teams that took place in a virtual format.

The meetings were convened between the representatives of NCM and the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Sciences and the two research teams awarded by the program’s fourth cycle grant.

Held on 24 February, 2022, the first meeting drew the participation of Dr. Luca Delle Monache, Deputy Director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E), Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, USA, and his team that will work on a research project using a hybrid machine learning framework for enhanced precipitation nowcasting

The second meeting took place on February 28 with Dr. Bradley Baker, Principal Investigator at SPEC Inc, and his team that will work on a project designed to enhance precipitation in the UAE through stimulating the electrical properties of cloud seeding materials..

His Excellency Dr. Abdulla Al Mandous, Director of NCM and President of the Regional Association II (Asia) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said: “The remarkable results achieved by the program in its previous cycles have significantly contributed to enhancing global water security, helping the UAE boost its prominence in scientific and practical fields. This supports our wise leadership’s efforts to find lasting solutions to pressing global issues, especially water security, through supporting and developing scientific research and employing its outcomes to secure sustainable water supplies.”

He added: "We are delighted that the Fourth Cycle awardee teams are starting the implementation of their research projects. We are optimistic about its anticipated outcomes for the broader rain enhancement research community. We look forward to applying those outcomes to bolster the sustainability of water resources locally and globally.”

For her part, Alya Al Mazroui, Director of the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science (UAEREP), said: “Since its inception, the program has played a crucial role in advancing rain enhancement technology. We are confident that through leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, the fourth cycle awardee projects will present groundbreaking innovations and new ideas to evolve rain enhancement processes. This will allow this important scientific domain to increase its contribution to global water security.”

Al Mazroui added: "Together with our new awardee teams, UAEREP will continue to build on the scientific knowledge and breakthroughs achieved over the past cycles, while promoting the UAE's status as prominent hub for rain enhancement research and helping the world tackle the challenges posed by the scarcity of potable water.”

Last January, the National Center of Meteorology (NCM) announced the winners of the fourth cycle grant of the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science (UAEREP) during a special ceremony held at the UAE pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.

Dr. Bradley Baker received the grant for his research proposal titled ‘Rainfall enhancement in the UAE via improving the electrical features of the cloud seeding materials’. His project aims to determine if the effects of the nano-material seeding agent and electric charge generators will stimulate a secondary ice process (SIP) that may potentially lead to rain enhancement.

Dr. Luca Delle Monache was awarded the grant for his research work titled ‘A Hybrid Machine Learning Framework for Enhanced Precipitation Nowcasting’. The project seeks to create an AI research and operations testbed in the UAE. The team will build a novel AI framework to blend satellite observations, ground-based weather radar data, rain gauges, and numerical weather prediction estimates.

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About UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science

The UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science supervises research grants offered to projects that contribute to the development of innovative solutions in rain enhancement research.  In its fourth cycle, the program received a total of 81 total submissions presented by 378 scientists and researchers affiliated with 159 institutions across 37 countries on five continents.

The program offers a grant of $1.5 million distributed over 3 years for each of the research proposals in rain enhancement, with a maximum of $550,000 per year. Through its intensive outreach campaigns and external communication strategies, the program has built connections with 1,811 researchers and scientists and 806 research institutions from 70 countries, and received 451 research proposals over its four cycles.