WATER RESEARCH COMMISSION

Joint Media Release

The South African Water Research Commission (WRC)

The South African Weather Service (SAWS)

Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF)

7 June 2005

Embargo: Immediate Release

South African National Precipitation Research and Rainfall Enhancement Programme receives UAE International Prize for Weather Modification

Introduction:

Because of the strong dependence of man’s activities and indeed of his well-being on fluctuations of precipitation, the control of weather has always been high among the aspirations of humans, especially in the semi-arid regions. His Highness, the President of the U.A.E., has been very supportive of the scientific approach in exploring the possibility of rain enhancement. In view of the above, the Department of Water Resources Studies/Ministry of Presidential Affairs of UAE (DWRS) on 7 May 2003 has made a proposal to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for the establishing of the UAE Prize for Excellence in Advancing the Science and Practice of Weather Modification to be executed in collaboration with the WMO. The UAE Prize will be in three categories: First (US$ 250,000), Second (US$ 200,000) and Third (US$150,000).

In response to the call for nominations distributed world-wide during 2004 more than 10,000 pages describing some of the best weather modification experiments in the world were received and reviewed by the Evaluators and the Senior Coordinator during January/February 2005. The Evaluators independent assessments were considered at a meeting at the end of February. Following a uniform and transparent method, the ratings of the submissions and the recommendations for awards were achieved by consensus. The UAE Authority accepted the ratings and the spirit of the recommendations offering one main prize and providing number of recognition and encouragement awards.

The South African National Precipitation Research and Rainfall Enhancement Programme ( Graeme Mather, Deon Terblanche, Francois Steffens, Lizelle Fletcher and Andre Gorgens) , receives the UAE Prize (200,000$) for the design and execution of a successful weather modification experiment involving the revolutionizing concept based on hygroscopic nuclei injection and superb radar tracing software.

Background to the project:

Chronic water shortages in the economic and industrial heartland of South Africa prompted research into weather modification as a potential means of augmenting rainfall, river flow and reservoir storage. During the 1980s there had been two major randomised seeding experiments in the region, both attempting to test the hypothesis that glaciogenic seeding of warm-based cumulus clouds would enhance precipitation. In 1990, amalgamation of these fore-runner projects, with reformulated goals, provided the foundation for a new research initiative, termed the National Precipitation Research Programme (NPRP). The NPRP, in turn, was transformed into the South African Rainfall Enhancement Programme (SAREP) in 1997. The overall approach of NPRP-SAREP encompassed the following:

· adapting and refining intervention strategies and cloud seeding techniques in accordance with the continuously evolving understanding of cloud and precipitation processes emerging from ongoing process studies;

· subjecting refined seeding techniques to rigorous field testing and randomised experimentation, with numerical modelling support where appropriate, in order to quantitatively assess cloud-based responses to seeding;

· investigating potential enhancement of area rainfall and associated economic, water-resource, agricultural and environmental costs and benefits.

Research was conducted in areas ranging in altitude from approximately 800 to 1 800 m, characterised by continental atmospheric conditions and encompassing a large part of south-western Mpumalanga Province, north-eastern Free State Province and Limpopo Province. These areas receive summer rainfall, averaging between 600 and 800 mm pa, with a large proportion of the rain resulting from convective storms. Available facilities included aircraft, meteorological radars at various locations (Bethlehem, Carolina, Tzaneen and Polokwane), data acquisition and handling facilities, laboratories for hardware and software development, calibration facilities and computational facilities.

Additional outcomes of NPRP-SAREP

Besides meeting objectives, NPRP-SAREP yielded valuable spinoffs, namely:

· The continuous development and use of tracking software for radar-observed storms, including contributions to the refinement of NCAR’s TITAN software

· The refinement and routine application of weather radar usage for quantitative areal rainfall measurement

· The enhancement and refinement of capabilities with regard to in-house hardware and software development, particularly for real-time data acquisition, transmission and processing

· Arousal of International interest in the hygroscopic seeding methodology, resulting in the planning, execution and facilitation of hygroscopic seeding experiments in Mexico, the UAE and elsewhere in the world

· Improved communications through advanced use of AC telemetry.

Principal researchers and participating research organisations

Dr Graeme K Mather CloudQuest (Pty) Ltd (contributions up to August 1997)

Dr Deon E Terblanche South African Weather Service

Prof Francois E Steffens Centre for Applied Statistics, University of South Africa

Dr Lizelle Fletcher Centre for Applied Statistics, University of South Africa

Prof Andre H M Görgens Department of Civil Engineering, University of Stellenbosch (alternatively, Sigma Beta Consulting Engineers)

Principal funding organisations

The South African Water Research Commission (WRC)

The South African Weather Service (SAWS)

Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF)

The South African Experiment is the world’s showpiece of a randomized rain enhancement because of its technological innovations and advances, and its successful conclusion.

For more information on the UAE prize visit www.uaewxmodprize.ae

RELEASED BY: (view original release)

Yuven Gounden 012- 3300340 (tel)

PR/Communications Coordinator 012- 3312565 (fax)

Water Research Commission 083 297 1214 (mobile)

Private Bag X03 yuveng@wrc.org.za

Gezina www.wrc.org.za

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