Drones test that ‘sow’ rain clouds in the face of drought in some countries

May
11, 2021

2 min read

Can we make it rain? The United Arab Emirates will use drone technology that unleashes electrical charges into clouds in order for them to clump together and form precipitation.

This technology manufactured in England has electrical charge emission sensors, the job of the operators will be to direct them towards the low clouds to release the electricity. Clouds contain positive and negative charges. By altering these charges, scientists hope to influence the growth of droplets to produce precipitation.

These equipment were developed by researchers from the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath, in England, although today the research is directed by the University of Reading.

So far scientists have carried out tests in the United Kingdom and have managed to release charge from drones and detect it on the ground, the challenge will be to repeat these results in the United Arab Emirates where the electrical environment is different due to high levels of dust and particles of aerosol, explained Keri Nicoll, coordinator of the study.

^{Image: via University of Bath .}

First time for this technology

Among some techniques to stimulate rain in dry countries is the “seeding of clouds”, which consists of planes or rockets that fly at low altitude and are responsible for throwing solid particles (such as salt or silver iodide) to the clouds. .

This is one of the first times that researchers are using drones to stimulate and create precipitation. However, Dr. Nicoll comments that this method alone may not replace the established cloud seeding technique, but that it could work to maximize its effectiveness.

This research is published in the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology .