(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Parts of Oman often receive rainfall due to cloud seeding done in UAE, the Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) has said. Though the sultanate does not currently use this expensive technology, it sometimes benefits from cloud seeding operations conducted by its northern neighbour.
Sultan Salim al Yahyai, chief of PACA's numerical weather prediction section said, ''Yes, UAE does cloud seeding. It is sometimes useful for us. We get rain from their cloud seeding operations.... We do not practice cloud seeding in Oman.''
Yahyai said that Oman gets rainfall when the wind pushes seeded clouds in its direction. ''You cannot control cloud movement,'' he said.
Cloud seeding is inducing precipitation by adding chemicals to clouds. Airplanes fly above clouds to add the substances to artificially create rain, often to beat drought-like situations.
Ali al Musallam, head of cloud seeding operations sections at UAE's National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) told Muscat Daily, ''Cloud seeding is one part of weather modification. UAE started using this technology at the end of '90s to enhance rainfall amount, in order to recharge underground water and aquifers. NCMS carried different studies to increase rainfall. We used different study approaches and all results were promising.''
He said UAE conducts around 150 cloud operations in a year and it increases with the availability of favourable cloud conditions. ''The rainfall in Oman is completely natural as cloud seeding operations take place close to UAE's eastern borders. It leads to increase in rainfall in these areas as well as locations close to UAE borders. In this case, the areas close to eastern border of UAE especially Oman receive rainfall.''
He added, ''Since 2001, the project has been cooperating with renowned US-based institutions like the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and NASA, in addition to Witwatersrand University in South Africa.''
Dan Breed, project scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research said, ''NCAR was involved in a 2004 feasibility study for the Government of Oman. We did a feasibility study some years ago, but have not been active in Oman since then (nor do I think that Oman has been pursuing cloud seeding operations since
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