AI-Powered Cloud-Seeding Efforts to Increase Rainfall Across UAE

The National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) in Abu Dhabi is leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to boost the effectiveness of its cloud-seeding operations, aimed at addressing the UAE’s water scarcity. With hundreds of cloud-seeding missions conducted across the UAE in 2024, AI is now being used to enhance the precision and efficiency of these operations, ensuring more targeted rainfall generation.

According to officials at NCM, AI is integral to improving decision-making during cloud-seeding efforts. By analyzing large volumes of real-time weather data, AI algorithms help meteorologists predict the best locations and timings for cloud seeding, resulting in a minimum 15% increase in rainfall annually.

Drones equipped with AI sensors are also being utilized to release seeding materials directly into clouds with greater accuracy compared to traditional methods. This allows for more effective rainfall induction by ensuring seeding materials are deployed in the most promising locations.

These cloud-seeding efforts have significantly contributed to the national water supply, generating between 84 and 419 million cubic meters of water each year. The program, which costs approximately AED 29,000 (USD 8,000) per flight hour, has helped produce a sizable portion of the UAE's annual rainfall, which totals around 6.7 billion cubic meters.