UK Daily Mail
By Daily
Mail Reporter
3rd January 2011
In 2010 Technology created 50 rainstorms in
For
centuries people living in the
Now
that holy grail is a step closer after scientists
employed by the ruler of
Fifty
rainstorms were created last year in the state's eastern Al Ain
region using technology designed to control the weather.
Most
of the storms were at the height of the summer in July and August when there
is no rain at all. (This can only be achieved on
days with the humidity above 30%)
People
living in
The
Metro System scientists used ionisers to produce
negatively charged particles called electrons.
They
have a natural tendency to attach to tiny specks of dust which are ever-present
in the atmosphere in the desert-regions.
These
are then carried up from the emitters by convection - upward currents of air
generated by the heat release from sunlight as it hits the ground.
Once
the dust particles reach the right height for cloud formation, the charges will
attract water molecules floating in the air which then start to condense around
them.
If
there is sufficient moisture in the air, it induces billions of droplets to
form which finally means cloud and rain.
The
scientists have been working secretly for
They
have been using giant ionisers, shaped like stripped
down lampshades on steel poles, to generate fields of negatively charged
particles.
These
promote cloud formation and researchers hoped they could then produce rain.
In a
confidential company video, the founder of the Swiss company in charge of the
project, Metro Systems International, boasted of success.
Helmut
Fluhrer said: 'We have achieved a number of
rainfalls.'
It
is believed to be the first time the system has produced rain from clear skies,
according to the Sunday Times.
In
the past,
Last
June Metro Systems built five ionising sites each
with 20 emitters which can send trillions of cloud-forming ions into the
atmosphere.
Over
four summer months the emitters were switched on when the required atmospheric
level of humidity reached 30 per cent or more.
While
the country's weather experts predicted no clouds or rain in the Al Ain region, rain fell on FIFTY-TWO occasions.
The
project was monitored by the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, one of the
world's major centres for atmospheric physics.
Professor
Hartmut Grassl, a former
institute director, said: There are many applications. One is getting water
into a dry area.
'Maybe
this is a most important point for mankind.'