The latest methods to help boost the amount of rainfall in some of the world's driest regions will be examined as a special forum that opened at the 2018 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week on Tuesday.
Held over three days, the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science’s Second International Forum on Rain Enhancement Science provides a platform for discussion about latest research and potential innovations in the quest for global water security, news agency Wam reported.
Every year, the country gives substantial funding to scientists and researchers to help develop new ways to boost rainfall.
"Over the next three days, the forum will see the exchange and discussion of some of the most cutting-edge ideas with the potential to boost water security for vulnerable populations around the world," said Dr Abdulla Al Mandous, director of the National Centre of Meteorology.
"Through its commitment to leading international collaboration on this vitally important challenge, the UAE is once again showing its readiness to promote the innovation needed to make a real difference."
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Since it was by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science has established itself as a leading international focal point for cutting-edge scientific advances based on the analysis and the implementation of new technologies specifically developed to improve knowledge of weather, clouds and precipitation.
The programme’s three First Cycle awardees, based in UAE, Japan and Germany, are undertaking projects on the use of nanotechnology to accelerate water condensation, the potential of innovative algorithms to enhance knowledge of cloud characteristics and precipitation, and land cover modification to enhance precipitation.
Further projects led by Second Cycle awardees, featuring leading researchers from the US, Finland and UK, are working respectively on leveraging ice production processes in cumulus clouds, quantifying atmospheric aerosols in precipitation enhancement, and analysing the electrical properties of clouds, also commenced in 2017.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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