BBC Pidgin of Thursday, 18 April 2024

Source: BBC

Wetin be Cloud seeding and shey na wetin cause Dubai flooding be dat?

Pipo dey waka inside flood water wey heavy rains cause for Dubai Pipo dey waka inside flood water wey heavy rains cause for Dubai

Dubai don welcome record breaking floods for di past 24 hours, wey dey cause misleading speculation to start dey spread about cloud seeding.

So how strange dis rain don be and wetin be di reason for dis kain ogbonge rain wey dey fall so.

How extreme di rainfall be?

Dubai dey for di coast of di United Arab Emirates (UAE) and dey usually very dry. But even though dem dey get less dan 100mm (3.9in) a year of rainfall on average, e dey sometimes get some serious downpours.

Di city of Al-Ain wey just dey 100km away from Dubai bin record about 256mm (10in) of rain in just 24 hours.

Di main reason na "cut off" low pressure weather system wey bring warm, moist air and block oda weather systems from coming through.

Prof Maarten Ambaum, wey be meteorologist wit di University of Reading and wey don study rainfall patterns for di Gulf region tok say, "dis part of di world na wia dem fit no get rain for long periods and den dem go get irregular, heavy rainfall but even though, ds na very rare rainfall event."

Which hand climate change get for inside?

E no dey possible yet to count say na how climate change get hand for dis mata be dis. For dat to happun, e need to go through full scientific analysis of natural and human factors, wey fit take several months.

But di record rainfall fit join wit how di climate dey change.

To tok am for simple words: warmer air fit hold more water, like 7% extra per degree Celcius, wey fit den increase how heavy di rain go fall.

Richard Allan wey be professor of climate science for di University of Reading say, "di heaviness of di rain bin dey record breaking, but e follow for how e dey be for warmer climate, as more moisture dey make di clouds heavy, wey dey cause heavier rainfall and dey make di floods to dey more powerful.

Recent study, suggest say di rain fall per year fit increase by like 30% for most parts of di UAE as di wold continue to dey warm.

Dr Friederike Otto wey be senior lecturer for climate science for Imperial College London say, "if pipo continue to dey burn oil, gas and coal, di climate go continue dey warm, rainfall go dey heavier and pipo go continue to die for floods".

Wetin be cloud seeding and e get hand inside?

Cloud seeding na to manipulate existing clouds to help produce more rain.

Di way dem fit do am na to use aircrafts take drop small particles (like silver iodide) for di clouds. Water vapour fit den condense easier to turn to rain.

Dis technique don dey ground for decades and UAE don use am in recent years to take solve dia water shortage wahala.

For hours afta di floods, some social media users wrongly carry di extreme weather event put for di head of di recent cloud seeding operations for di kontri alone.

Earlier tori from Bloomberg bin suggest say, cloud seeding planes bin go out on Sunday and Monday, but dem no go on Tuesday wen di flooding happun.

As BBC bin no fit independently verify wen di cloud seeding happun, sabi pipo say las-las na small effect e go get on di storm and say to focus on am dey "misleading".

Dr Otto tok say, "even if cloud seeding bin ginger di clouds around Dubai to drop water, di atmosphere fit likely dey carry more water to form di clouds to start, bicos of climate change."

Dem dey usually use cloud seeding wen conditions of wind, moisture and dust no reach to cause rain to fall. In di last week, forecasters don warn of high risk of flooding all ova di Gulf.

Prof Diana Francis wey be oga of di Environmental and Geophysical Sciences for Khalifa University for Abu Dhabi say, "wen dat kain serious and large scale systems dey forecasted, cloud seeding, wey cost to perform, no go dey performed bicos no need to seed dat kain strong system of regional scale."

BBC Weather meteorologist Matt Taylor also note say dem don forecast dat kain serious weather event.

E say, "bifor di event, computer models (wey no dey calculate di potential cloud seeding effect join) don already predict say di rain wey suppose fall in ova one year go fall in about 24 hours.

"Di impact bin wide pass wetin I go expect from cloud-seeding alone sef, ogbonge flooding wey affect large areas from Bahrain to Oman".

Na goment task force wey dem dey call di National Center of Meteorology (NCM) dey run cloud seeding missions for Emirati territory.

How UAE don prepare reach for ogbonge weather conditons?
To make sure say heavy rainfalls no turn deadly, floods need ogbonge defences to handle wen di sudden serious rainfall come.

Dubai dey very urbanized. E no get plenti green space wey go soak up di moisture and drainage facilities bin no reach to handle dat kain high levels of rainfall.

Prof Francis say, "strategies and adaptation measures need to dey ground to handle di new reality (more frequent intense rainfalls).

"For example, in infrastructure for roads and facilities, dem go need to dey adapted, to build reservoirs to store water from spring rain and use am later in di year."

For January, di UAE Road and Transport Authority bin set up new unit wey go help manage floods for Dubai.