Saudi Arabia | 5 new rain seeding aircraft received by Saudi Arabia

2024-05-13 2024-05-13T07:22:27Z

Weather of Arabia - Private sources revealed to Al Arabiya channel that Saudi Arabia has received five new rain seeding aircraft , including a plane designated for research, and these planes are scheduled to begin service in the coming days, as part of a plan to increase rain seeding operations in the coming period.

The sources indicated that the National Center is working to localize pilots in the field of rain seeding, as 18 Saudi pilots have joined for this purpose.

The spokesman for the National Center of Meteorology, Hussein Al-Qahtani, had previously confirmed that the amount of rain that fell during the past year 2023 amounted to about four billion cubic meters.

Rainfall in Saudi Arabia

During the year 2023 , the operations of the Regional Cloud Seeding Program were implemented in six regions, which included 415 cloud seeding flights that took place over a period of 1,312:45 hours of flight, in addition to 36 research flights that lasted for a period of 111:29 hours, using four cloud seeding planes and a special research plane during During these flights, approximately 7,876 flares were seeded, resulting in a 15-minute rainfall total estimated at approximately 4 billion cubic metres, based on the results of the program's research studies.

So far, four phases of the program have been completed, covering most regions of the Kingdom, and the fifth phase is currently underway.

Cloud seeding technology aims to increase the quantity and quality of precipitation by exploiting specific cloud characteristics, with the aim of enhancing and accelerating precipitation over pre-defined areas. This technology is carried out via aircraft equipped to seed fine materials that are not harmful to the environment in specific parts of the clouds. This method is considered safe, flexible, does not have a high cost, and contributes to maintaining the water balance.