While imperfect, Dubai’s approach to tackling extreme temperatures with cloud seeding provides new hope for sustainability practices.
Dubai is known for oil production, a key contributor to climate change, resulting in recent extreme temperatures. The country’s already arid climate does not help.
The government of Dubai has taken the matter into their own hands to cool down the weather by making rain through cloud seeding.
Cloud seeding is the process of manipulating clouds into precipitating by modifying their structure. The process is quite simple: a drone or plane flies over and shocks the cloud with water-attracting particles, such as silver iodide or sodium chloride, which causes precipitation sooner. Sodium chloride (table salt) is becoming more commonly used in cloud seeding due to silver iodide’s toxicity and the prevalence of water desalination.
The process of cloud seeding works hand in hand with water desalination systems already set up near Dubai.
Seventy-one per cent of the Earth’s surface is water, and the oceans alone make up around 97 per cent of all Earth’s water. Ocean water is toxic to humans because of the amount of salt it contains.
While humans are able to break down excess amounts of salt, seawater contains significantly more salt than the human body can process. Humans require freshwater to dilute the salt in the human body which helps the kidneys function properly. Water desalination allows us to utilize seawater without getting sick.
The salt, however, from water desalination should not be returned to the sea due to the deleterious effect it has on marine life. The excess salt decreases dissolved oxygen in the water, which in turn suffocates marine life. This is where cloud seeding and water desalination meet, since sodium chloride can be used to cloud seed rather than being returned to the sea.
A 2018 United Nations report warned that Earth has to reach “net zero” in emissions to avoid catastrophic consequences before 2050. A 2021 report states that many changes to the climate and ocean levels are now irreversible.
Dubai currently burns fossil fuels to operate water desalination plants and produce oil for drones and planes used in cloud seeding. Burning fossil fuels is one of the major reasons the average global temperature is going up.
If Dubai is able to find a renewable source of energy—such as solar power—to run desalination plants, it would be able to actively contribute to cooling the climate and could set an example for other fossil fuel reliant countries to follow suit.
Although Dubai is still largely reliant on fossil fuels, it is great that the government is looking into cleaner sources of energy in order to remain self-sufficient. This is a small step in the right direction and other countries should follow suit.
Featured image by Saif Rahman.
