Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, affirmed that the UAE continues to support the unremitting efforts of the scientific community to promote water sustainability, and to pursue scientific solutions to the problem of water scarcity, which has become an urgent issue for many countries of the world.
He added, “In line with its approach to benefiting from the outputs of scientific research to meet various development challenges, the country’s initiative to launch the (Emirates Program for Research on Rain Enhancement Science) represented a pioneering step to support scientific efforts aimed at providing innovative solutions for the development of water resources, by providing grants for the most distinguished research projects in field of rain.”
He added that the program “has proven, since its launch, its pivotal role in providing new solutions and ideas to confront the shortage of water resources and low rainfall rates, and we are confident that through cooperation and joint efforts, we will be able to implement the distinguished ideas that the program has attracted on the ground, to contribute to support The water security system locally, regionally and globally,” according to the Emirates News Agency (WAM).
The Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al-Jaber, honored the recipients of the program’s grant in its fourth session, which are Dr. Bradley Baker, Principal Investigator at the American company “SPIC”, and Dr. Luca Delle Monaki, Deputy Director of the Western Center for Weather and Extreme Water Conditions, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in University of California.
Al Jaber said: “Thanks to the vision and support of the wise leadership, the UAE has established a leading position and an influential role in providing solutions to strategic issues such as water security. The rain seeding program is one of the country’s important initiatives in this field, as it has proven, through its support for innovative research and specialized experts in the field of rain enhancement, the potential Employing scientific outputs to enhance water resources and ensure their sustainability to serve communities suffering from water scarcity globally.
The advisor at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Center of Meteorology, Faris Muhammad Al Mazrouei, affirmed the wise leadership in the UAE’s full support and appreciation for the tireless efforts of the scientific community to promote water sustainability worldwide, and to secure scientific solutions to the problem of water scarcity, which has become one of the pressing national issues. .
Al Mazrouei stated that “harnessing all resources and using creative ideas to secure a sustainable supply of clean water has become an urgent necessity. The UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science is one of the important initiatives that confirm the UAE’s leading role in enhancing global water security by adopting and supporting innovative solutions needed to help countries at risk.” Water stress around the world.
Dr. Bradley Becker received the program grant for his research project entitled “Improving rainfall in the UAE by inoculation with nano-hygroscopic materials”, which aims to investigate whether the effects of using nano-hygroscopic materials and electric charge generators are able to stimulate the secondary process of crystal formation. icy, which may lead to enhanced precipitation.
Dr. Luca Delle Monacci won the grant for his research project titled “Hybrid Machine Learning to Improve Real-Time Precipitation”, which aims to establish test platforms for artificial intelligence research and operations in the UAE, where the project will build a new framework for artificial intelligence to integrate satellite observations. Synthetic and ground-based weather radar data, rain gauges, and numerical weather forecast estimates.
The Emirates Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science supervises research grants offered to projects that contribute to the development of innovative solutions in the field of rain enhancement research. The program received 81 initial research proposals, submitted by 378 researchers, scientists and experts, affiliated with 159 research institutions located in 37 countries and distributed on all continents. .
The program offers a grant of $1.5 million over 3 years for each of the research proposals in the field of rain enhancement, at a maximum rate of $550,000 per year.
1811 researchers and scientists and 806 research institutions from 70 countries interacted with the program through its introductory campaigns and strategies for external communication over four sessions, which contributed to submitting 451 research proposals.
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