UAE eyeing build a man-made mountain which bring rains

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become the hub for mega structures, with the world tallest building Burj Khalifa, and world largest man-made island the Palm Jumeirah.

UAE certainly boosts a fair share of man-made wonders. Soon another such structure would rule the emirates, a man-made mountain, yes you heard it right UAE is planning to build an artificial mountain, not any ordinary mountain, certainly not but a mountain which will change weather patterns and increase rainfall.

According to Arabian Business, the experts from the US-based University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), which manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) are in the “detailed modelling study” phase, NCAR scientist and lead researcher Roelof Bruintjes informed.

“What we are looking at is basically evaluating the effects on weather through the type of mountain, how high it should be and how the slopes should be,” said Bruintjes. “We will have a report of the first phase this summer as an initial step.”

“Building a mountain is not a simple thing,” added Bruintjes. “We are still busy finalising assimilation, so we are doing a spread of all kinds of heights, widths and locations [as we simultaneously] look at the local climatology.”

According to Discovery News, a mountain is helpful in causing rainfall, as its presence changes winds and causes them to lift air containing evaporation upward, which promotes cloud formation. Those clouds can then be seeded to stimulate precipitation, a process necessary for rain.

The report added, that UCAR has been involved in a massive weather-modification project in Wyoming, which involves seeding clouds over the Medicine Bow, Sierra Madre and Wind River mountain ranges in an effort to boost snowfall by 10 percent.

However, the specific location has not yet been determined as NCAR experts are still testing out different sites across the UAE.

“If [the project] is too expensive for [the government], logically the project won’t go through, but this gives them an idea of what kind of alternatives there are for the long-term future,” Bruintjes said. “If it goes through, the second phase would be to go to an engineering company and decide whether it is possible or not.”