TLDR : Countries like China and the UAE are increasing the use of AI-driven cloud seeding to combat water stress due to climate change.
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As climate change and heatwaves intensify, exacerbating water stress, some nations are increasing their use of geoengineering to address critical local needs. Among the technologies at play, cloud seeding, long relegated to the fringes of scientific debate, is now the focus of ambitious state programs, notably in China and the United Arab Emirates. Their common point: mobilizing AI, data, and automation to transform an uncertain sky into a programmable resource.
Cloud seeding aims to stimulate rain or snow by injecting particles like silver iodide or salt into the atmosphere, which promote condensation. Used for decades, this technique is now optimized through weather modeling and AI.
While China and the United Arab Emirates are at the forefront of a meteorological era orchestrated by algorithms, they are not the only ones exploring the potential of cloud seeding coupled with AI. Countries like the United States, Thailand, and Russia are also developing specific approaches, reflecting priorities as diverse as their political and climatic contexts. In the United States, some western states like Colorado, Nevada, and California are deploying projects aimed at increasing snow reserves in the Rockies to improve recharge of aquifers and reservoirs, with AI used to refine hydrological forecasts and guide local authorities' decisions. In Thailand, the goal is primarily agricultural, with AI used to finely plan seeding cycles. As for Russia, it uses these tools in a punctual and strategic manner, particularly to avoid rain during emblematic public events like military parades in Moscow.
China: Geoengineering as a Strategic Lever for Stability
For two decades, China has integrated climate modification into its territorial management agenda. This choice is not just about meteorological innovation but is part of a broader logic of water security, agricultural support, and environmental control.
In 2020, the Chinese State Council unveiled a national plan to equip the country by 2025 with a weather modification system covering more than 5.5 million square kilometers. This setup relies on a multi-layered infrastructure: fleets of seeding aircraft, batteries of meteorological rocket launchers, networked radars, and increasingly, integrated AI systems capable of predicting optimal intervention conditions, even automatically piloting high-altitude drones.
This massive use of technology was employed during the Beijing 2008 Olympics, where Chinese authorities publicly claimed their ability to push precipitation away from the ceremony areas. Today, this policy aims to protect critical agricultural zones, strengthen hydroelectric basins, and compensate for the uneven effects of internal droughts. It embodies an assumed vision of environmental governance, where the climate becomes a manageable and strategic resource serving national stability.
United Arab Emirates: Targeted Innovation and Climate Diplomacy
At the geographical opposite, but with a similar logic of water sovereignty, the United Arab Emirates launched a vast cloud seeding program in the 2000s. The country, where more than 90% of freshwater comes from desalination, sees this technique as an opportunity to reduce its energy dependence and anticipate growing demographic pressure.
Under the aegis of the National Center of Meteorology, the UAE has tested various approaches, ranging from aerial seeding to more experimental methods: in particular, the emission of electrical charges by drones into cumulus clouds, a technology developed in partnership with British universities. Here, too, AI plays a key role in modeling and planning: algorithms anticipate the evolution of cloud masses and optimize flight paths based on observed microclimates.
Beyond purely technical issues, the program is part of a broader strategy of green geopolitical positioning. At COP28 in Dubai, the UAE clearly expressed its desire to become a hub of climate innovation in the region. Cloud seeding is presented not as a miracle solution but as a link in a portfolio of technological adaptations.
Some studies suggest an increase in precipitation by 5 to 15%, however, the effectiveness of cloud seeding remains difficult to measure. More countries are resorting to this technology, raising ethical and geopolitical issues as there is no clear international regulation on artificial climate modification: can a country use it to the detriment of its neighbors?