The UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science’s Strategic Direction Committee has conducted site visits to assess the latest progress in two ground-breaking scientific projects led by internationally renowned German and Japanese researchers.

Launched by the Ministry of Presidential Affairs of the UAE and managed by the National Centre of Meteorology, NCM, the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science is an internationally recognised initiative that offers an annual grant of US$5 million to be shared by up to five winning research proposals.

Dr. Abdulla Al Mandous, Director of the NCM, said, "Our site visits are an integral part of our provision of support and collaborative expertise to ensure that our awardees’ ground-breaking projects will have the maximum impact as the UAE leads the way in building global networks and pooling expertise on rain enhancement. The programme is playing a key part in generating the new knowledge needed to aid vulnerable populations around the world."

The programme’s Strategic Direction Committee is responsible for the technical, financial, and administrative monitoring of the programme awardees’ projects through progress reports and site visits to assist their successful completion within a three-year time scale. The Committee also provides strategic direction to ensure that the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science produces tangible benefits through advancing knowledge and building international networks.

In its visit to the Meteorological Research Institute in Tsubuka, Japan, the Committee assessed a project led by Professor Masataka Murakami aiming to enhance cloud seeding techniques through algorithm-based experiments on cloud and precipitation data gathered from remote sensors and in-situ aircraft measurements taken in the Al Ain region in the UAE.

Over three days, the Committee evaluated the progress made by Professor Murakami’s team. The work being carried out by the Japanese researchers promises to make a unique contribution to the scientific study of the ‘seedability’ of clouds, the development of optimal seeding methods, and the evaluation of the outcomes.

Professor Murakami said, "The practical support given by the Abu Dhabi leadership and the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science has been of immense help in our effort to generate new insights and technologies that could have wider applications for countries suffering from water security issues, and we are very grateful for this."

In its site visit to the University of Hohenheim in Germany this month, the committee also evaluated a project, led by Professor Volker Wulfmeyer, designed to enhance cloud seeding through a study of convergence zones induced by complex atmospheric flows and their effect on the formation and location of clouds.

Professor Wulfmeyer, another first cycle awardee of the UAE programme, is working on a project that aims to combine a high-resolution forecast model with the UAE rain radar network’s data to improve forecasting and the potential effectiveness of cloud seeding operations.