Three research groups from USA, Finland, and UK were selected as awardees of the 5 million US dollar grant awarded for the Second Cycle of the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science.
Ahmed Juma Al Zaabi, Deputy Minister of Presidential Affairs in the United Arab Emirates and Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the National Center of Meteorology and Seismology, awarded the researchers a grant on behalf of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The three awarded scientists leading the research teams are:
- Paul Lawson, from the United States of America, for his work on investigating new approaches to rain enhancement that leverages ice production processes in cumulus clouds.
- Hannele Korhonen, from Finland, for her work on the role of atmospheric aerosols in efficient precipitation enhancement.
- Giles Harrison, from the United Kingdom, for his work on the electrical properties of clouds and on rainfall modeling.
The three proposals that received awards this year were selected from 91 global scientific research proposals submitted by teams representing leading international institutions and organizations.
Launched by the Ministry of Presidential Affairs of the UAE and managed by the UAE National Center of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS), the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science is an ambitious global initiative designed to stimulate rain enhancement research.
The Program seeks to address water security challenges through international cooperation to advance scientific and technical research and innovation. The research areas that the Program addresses include the fundamental understanding of rainfall enhancement, data modeling, analysis and evaluation, and experimental design, technologies and instrumentation.
The UAE Research Program has witnessed an expansion in the geographical participation of the Second Cycle, with over 398 scientists and researchers affiliated to 180 institutes from 45 countries.