Daijiworld Media Network-Dubai (RJP)

Dubai, May 4: Everyone knows that we need mountains for the arrival of rain. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which does not have mountains in the populated areas, has been planning to build a mega mountain to help in getting better rains, it is reported.

UAE is known to be ahead of others in creating records. Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world and the Palm Jumeirah are best examples of its adventures. It is believed that proposed mountain plan is also a big idea like these two.
According to the Dubai-based publication Arabian Business, UAE is in the early stages of evaluating how a man-made mountain could help maximize rainfall in the country, consulting with experts from the USA based National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to study the idea.

Rain is a big issue in the UAE. Generally, it rains only few days a year with total annual rainfall not exceeding 5 inches. The water will be a major issue in the UAE in the future if the trend continues, analysts say.

There have been attempts to address the rain issue in the UAE in the past years. It was recently reported that US$ 558,000 was spent on 186 cloud seeding missions across in UAE last year, and the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science recently announced a US $ 5 million research grant for teams studying the technology.

So far the attempts seem to have worked with higher levels of rainfall arriving than predicted. A record rainfall in March this year attributed to cloud-seeding saw over 11 inches rain in less than 24 hours. That rainfall had created chaos in the country resulting in flooding and cancelled flights.

Cloud seeding is not the only idea being pursued. The country has created a number of huge desalination plants to create fresh water from seawater. More ambitious ideas include a pipeline from Pakistan or icebergs floated down from the Arctic.

Mountains have a major effect on rainfall and could. They are used to trap rainfall in a certain area. UAE does have some mountains in the far northern part of the country where a small amount of the population lives. Hence it plans to build the mountain in a thickly populated area.

The idea of building a mountain certainly therefore sounds appealing, though it would likely be dependent on cost. UAE has spent $400,000 so far just for investigating the idea. But no estimate could be made for the construction of mountain as it is a new idea altogether. Netherlands in the past had a proposal to build 1.2 mile-high hollow mountain. The cost was estimated at US $ 230 billion.

It is known yet known about the type, size of the mountain proposed to be built by the UAE.