United Arab Emirates to Build Artificial Mountain That Alters Weather Patterns, Potentially Increasing Rainfall

In order to cope with the hot dry weather in the region, the United Arab Emirates is planning to build an artificial mountain that can alter the weather patterns, increasing the amount of rainfall the region receives.

According to the report in Arabian Business, the project is still in its early stages of planning. UAE employed the help of researchers from US-based University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), granting them $400,000 to to propose a "detailed modeling study evaluating the effects of building a mountain on the weather""

"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 NCAR scientist and lead researcher Roelof Bruintjes.

UAE has done a lot of efforts in order to increase the amount of rainfall in the region. In 2105, UAE has spent $558,000 in cloud seeding.

Cloud seeding is a weather modification process designed to increase the amount of rainfall produced from clouds by pumping dry ice, silver iodide or potassium iodide into the clouds.

If an artificial mountain was built, it can force the air to rise and form cloud that can be then seeded.

But building a mountain is more difficult as than it sounds. According to News Discovery, building a mountain from artificial materials can consume about a quarter of the world's concrete output in 2015.

"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."

Another problem with building a mountain, according to experts: as the mountain has the ability to promote rainfall, it can also inhibit natural precipitation. Lands that are on the wrong side of the mountain might experience less rain.