(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) The moderate to heavy rainfall in northern Oman last week could be attributed to the cloud ionisation project.
Ibri Yanqul Dhank Dima Wa al Taien Bahla Nizwa and Hamra received showers.
'The enhanced rainfall witnessed in these areas can be attributed to the ionisation technique. This year we installed towers in Dima Wa al Taien and Sohar as these places and the areas that recently received rainfall witness a lot of summer cloud formation. Clouds are needed for this technology to work and the system makes it rain for longer' said an expert associated with the project.
Oman has reported an 18 per cent increase in rainfall since it began using cloud ionisation in 2013. 'In 2013 the calculated gross volumetric water generated from rain using this technology was estimated to be about 53940 megalitres while it was 56520 megalitres last year.'
The technology is dependent on topography of the area where ion emitters are installed the expert added explaining 'This technology uses giant ionisers to generate fields of negatively charged ions which are pushed to the higher atmosphere by wind. When charged particles react with the clouds it results in improved rainfall.'
The ionisation towers are switched on or switched off depending on the cloud formation. As a tropical depression forms over the Arabian Sea those involved with the project will be keeping a close watch on the situation. 'If the depression enters the region and hits Oman and if we see there are chances of flooding then we would switch off the towers' the expert said.
He added that the project has been a success. 'The cost of getting fresh water through desalination is much higher compared to what is generated through this technology. So why not use this technology on a wider scale'
Oman has two stations with ionisation towers on the Al Hajar mountains – one in Ibri and the other in Jebel Akhdar. A station each was set up later in Jebel al Rais in Saham and Jebel al Kab in Samail.
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