Ionizers Bombard Abu Dhabi Desert with Thunderstorms

This is anextraordinarily important development.  Ihave posted on the advent of the Edenmachine which uses sunlight to draw down humidity from the atmosphere to wateran immediately adjacent tree or two.  Thedraw back was that it needed to store energy and needed high humidity toperform well.  This could be solved byoperating on the edge of deserts and slowly moving into the desert as thegrowing trees slowly brought along the humidity.

This systemwill completely accelerate the process by inducing multiple local thunderstormsthat support the increasing humidity that can then support the restoration offorests, which expands the whole process far quicker.

Thus a firstphase would cover a chosen area were the upwind boundary area gets enoughhumidity with ion emitters.  If we areclever, the power can be produced by windmills and it can also be a powerplant.  The ionizers will be turned ononly when conditions permit.

With a longband of ionizers in place the thunderstorms will strike in a downwind band.  This will need to be captured with plenty oftrees.  Over time the build up ofvegetation will stabilize humidity and bring on general rainfall.

Again, thebig trick is to determine the far edge of the desert for doing all this becausethe expanding green belt supported by the Edenmachine protocol will cause steady down wind expansion.

The ionizersby themselves are a great start but thunderstorms are naturally inefficient andspotty.  It is the trees that stabilizeit all.

The entireSahara and the deserts of the Middle East canbe now carpeted with schools of wind turbines and ionizers.   The resulting thunderstorm bombardment willrecharge ground water everywhere and soon bring on natural forest regenerationall of which increases and supports increasing general humidity.

In time, andmuch sooner than I had ever hoped, such an enterprise would completely reforestthe whole region.  We can do it.  In fact, once the infrastructure is put inplace, the forest recovery will be almost exponential and completed to fullcoverage inside perhaps fifty years.

Have scientists discovered how to createdownpours in the desert?

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Last updated at 10:22 AM on 3rd January 2011

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1343470/Have-scientists-discovered-create-downpours-desert.html

Technology created 50 rainstorms in Abu Dhabi's Al Ain regionlast year

Forcenturies people living in the Middle Easthave dreamed of turning the sandy desert into land fit for growing crops withfresh water on tap.

Now thatholy grail is a step closer after scientists employed by the ruler of Abu Dhabi claim to havegenerated a series of downpours.

Fiftyrainstorms were created last year in the state's eastern Al Ain region usingtechnology designed to control the weather.

Dry asdust: The sand dunes of the United Arab Emirates, which sees no rain at all formonths. Now a secret project has brought storms to Abu Dhabi

Plan:Scientists are attempting to make clouds in the desert to give man control overthe weather

Most ofthe storms were at the height of the summer in July and August when thereis  no rain at all.

Peopleliving in Abu Dhabiwere baffled by the rainfall which sometimes turned into hail and includedgales and lightening.

HOW TECHNOLOGY IS KICKING UP A STORM

The Metro System scientists used ionisers to producenegatively charged particles called electrons.

They have a natural tendency to attach to tiny specks ofdust which are ever-present in the atmosphere in the desert-regions.

These are then carried up from the emitters by convection -upward currents of air generated by the heat release from sunlight as it hitsthe ground.

Once the dust particles reach the right height for cloudformation, the charges will attract water molecules floating in the air whichthen start to condense around them.

If there is sufficient moisture in the air, it inducesbillions of droplets to form which finally means cloud and rain.

Thescientists have been working secretly for United Arab Emirates presidentSheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Theyhave been using giant ionisers, shaped like stripped down lampshades on steelpoles, to generate fields of negatively charged particles.

Thesepromote cloud formation and researchers hoped they could then produce rain.

In aconfidential company video, the founder of the Swiss company in charge of theproject, Metro Systems International, boasted of success.

HelmutFluhrer said: 'We have achieved a number of rainfalls.'

It isbelieved to be the first time the system has produced rain from clear skies,according to the Sunday Times.

In thepast, Chinaand other countries have used chemicals for cloud-seeding to both induce andprevent rain falling.

LastJune Metro Systems built five ionising sites each with 20 emitters which can sendtrillions of cloud-forming ions into the atmosphere.

Overfour summer months the emitters were switched on when the required atmosphericlevel of humidity reached 30 per cent or more.

Whilethe country's weather experts predicted no clouds or rain in the Al Ain region,rain fell on FIFTY-TWO occasions.

Theproject was monitored by the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, one of theworld's major centres for atmospheric physics.

ProfessorHartmut Grassl, a former institute director, said: There are many applications.One is getting water into a dry area.

'Maybethis is a most important point for mankind.'

Thesavings using the Weathertec technology are huge with the system costing £6million a year while desalination is £45 million.

Buildingan ionising system is about £7 million while a desalination plant would be £850million and costs a lot more to run.

Somescientists are treating the results in Al Ain with caution because Abu Dhabi is a coastalstate and can experience natural summer rainfall triggered by air picking upmoisture from the warm ocean before dropping it on land.

But thenumber of times it rained in the region so soon after the ionisers wereswitched on has encouraged researchers.

ProfessorPeter Wilderer witnessed the experiments first hand and is backing thebreakthrough.

Thedirector of advanced studies on sustainability at the TechnicalUniversity of Munich, said: 'We came a big step closer tothe point where we can increase the availability of fresh water to all in timesof dramatic global changes.'