Study of Impact of Cloud-Seeding on Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) Curves of Sharjah City, the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Despite the availability of some studies related to rainfall characteristics in Sharjah city and the UAE, very few of these studies have investigated any causal link between recent cloud-seeding missions and the increasing rainfall intensities and urban floods being experienced. This study has assessed the impact of cloud-seeding operations that started in 2010 on the IDF curves of Sharjah city, The UAE. Hourly rainfall data spanning between 2010 and 2020 available at three stations, namely Sharjah Airport, Al Dhaid, and Mleiha, and provided by the National Center of Meteorology were used. To allow comparison with the pre-cloudseeding (2010) era, these records were extended back to 1992 using the much longer data available at Dubai Airport with the aid of the Self-organizing map approach. The developed IDF curves showed an apparent increase in rainfall intensities after implementing the cloud-seeding missions. In addition, the estimated mean rainfall intensities for three regions of the city were also much higher for the cloudseeded years compared to the pre-cloudseeding period. The study suggests that, while cloud-seeding provides water security benefits, its impact on urban flooding should also be carefully considered in the context of urban development plans.

Keywords

• intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves
• cloud-seeding
• rainfall
• hydrology
• Sharjah city
• the UAE