THE United Arab Emirates is making its own RAIN using hi-tech drones to stave off brutal 50C/122F heat.
The specialised drones release electric charges at cloud level to kickstart downpours in the desert nation.
The UAE has significant problems when it comes to water resource.
Its water table is sinking, and global temperatures are steadily rising.
So the arid nation is pumping money into finding reprieve from the heat – with $15million spent on nine rain-related projects.
One ongoing project is called cloud seeding.
This involves using drones to release electric charges in clouds.
As revealed by the BBC earlier this year, the shocks “cajole” the clouds into joining together.
This bunching-up effect makes rainfall much more likely.
“When the drops merge and are big enough, they will fall as rain,” said Prof Maarten Ambaum, speaking to the BBC.
Recent footage released this week by the UAE’s National Centre of Meteorology has shown huge downpours across the country.
But it’s still unclear how significant the effect that the drones are having.
However, cloud seeding has been used before.
Ski resorts in Colorado reportedly use this technique to “induce heavier snowfall”, according to Phys.org.
And China is believed to have used a similar method of “rain dispersal” to keep the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening dry.
But boosting rainfall in the UAE is important for everyday citizens.
The country has an annual rainfall of just three inches to four inches.
And temperatures in the capital of Dubai regularly exceed 103F/40C.
The Sun recently reported on one bonkers plot for an “ice pirate” to tow a 1.2MILE iceberg to the UAE.
It would be dragged across the ocean from the South Pole, and then melted down into drinking water.
The desert nation lacks water sources and, as a result, consumes 15% of the world’s desalinated seawater.
Science facts
Want to know more about the weird and wonderful world of science? From space and astronomy to the human body, we have you covered…
Nasa recently discovered an incredible mile-long perfectly rectangular iceberg floating in the Antarctic.
And the space agency recently warned that an “iceberg twice the size of Manhattan” could break away from the South Pole.
Scientists recently warned over an ancient Antarctic ice sheet collapse that caused a “global flood”, which could happen again.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk