• Date
    24-26 Jan 2023
  • Location
    Conrad Abu Dhabi, Etihad Towers
  • Tickets
    120 Tickets
  • Speakers
    40 Speakers
24-26
Jan 2023
6th International
Rain Enhancement Forum
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    Days
  • 00
    Hours
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    Mins
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    Secs
Hybrid Event
ABOUT THE FORUM

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Court, the National Center of Meteorology (NCM), through the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science is set to organize the sixth edition of the International Rain Enhancement Forum (IREF), the global platform that convenes leading international and national experts, researchers, scientists and stakeholders to tackle pressing water and sustainability issues worldwide.

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SPEAKERS

Meet Our Speakers

IREF will be gathering the best and brightest local and international experts where they will be utilizing their years of experience into presentations and discussions around the latest updates on Rain Enhancement, Meteorology and Weather Forecasting.

H.E Mariam Almheiri
UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment
    H.E Petteri Taalas
    Secretary-General, World Meteorological Organization
      H.E. Dr Abdulla Al Mandous
      Director General, the UAE’s National Center of Meteorology
        H.E Essa Ali Hashimi
        Assistant Undersecretary, Sustainable Communities Sector-Acting, Assistant Undersecretary, Green Development and Climate Change Sector
          H.E. Omran Sharaf
          Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Advanced Science and Technology, UAE
            H.E Dr. Nawal Al Hosany
            UAE’s Permanent Representative at IRENA
              Prof. Fahad Khan
              Deputy Chair of Computer Vision, MBZUAI, UAE
                Dr. Ray Johnson
                CEO of the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), UAE
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                  UNITED FOR WATER SECURITY

                  SCHEDULE

                  • Jan 24
                    Day 1
                  • Jan 25
                    Day 2
                  • Jan 26
                    Day 3
                  • Day 1
                  09:30 – 10:00
                  GUESTS’ ARRIVAL AND NETWORKING / JOINING THE HYBRID IREF EVENT

                  10:00 – 10:10
                  Opening Ceremony

                  10:10 – 10:20
                  WELCOMING AND OPENING SPEECH

                  ON BEHALF OF HIS HIGHNESS SHEIKH MANSOUR BIN ZAYED AL NAHYAN, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER OF THE PRESIDENTIAL COURTH.E. Dr Abdulla Al Mandous
                  10:20 – 10:30
                  Introduction, forum overview, and call for submissions

                  10:30 – 11:30 Plenary Session
                  Water Security in the Global Climate Agenda

                  This session comprises a panel discussion that brings together multiple international experts on the topics of climate change and its effects on global precipitation. Discussions will focus on the implications of changing precipitation patterns on freshwater security, and what can be done to combat and prepare for adverse effects – especially in the case of arid and semi-arid regions.

                  10:30 – 10:40
                  OPENING SPEECH

                  10:40 - 11:30
                  Panel discussion

                  11:30 – 12:00
                  COFFEE BREAK / PRESS CONFERENCE

                  12:00 - 13:30 Session One
                  Opportunities And Challenges For Implementation Of Rainfall Enhancement Models And Technologies

                  This session will cover issues related to the implementation of advancements in the rain enhancement field, such as pushing the state-of-the-art in numerical weather modeling toward operation implementation, logistical challenges and other obstacles to transitioning from research to operational environments in rain enhancement, which include strategies, case studies, and TRL consideration; evaluating and communicating rainfall enhancement results; and evaluation of impacts of rain enhancement efforts

                  OPENING SPEECHProf. Fahad Khan
                  CHALLENGES OPERATIONALIZING AUTONOMOUS UNSCREWED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS FOR RAIN ENHANCEMENTProf. Eric W. Frew
                  OPPORTUNITIES FOR OBSERVATIONAL STUDY OF CLOUD SEEDING EFFICACY IN THE UAE 2023Dr. Bradley Baker
                  HOW MODELS CAN BE USED FOR GUIDANCE IN RAIN ENHANCEMENT OPERATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTDr. Diana Francis
                  JOINT TARGETED SENSING, MONITORING AND ACTUATION FOR RAIN ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES THROUGH AERIAL MULTI-ROBOT SYSTEMSProf. Enrico Natalizio
                  PANEL DISCUSSION

                  13:30 – 15:00
                  LUNCH BREAK

                  15:00 - 16:35 Session Two
                  NEW APPROACHES AND INNOVATIONS FOR RAINFALL ENHANCEMENT

                  This session will have presentations on innovative research and advancements in technologies and methods applicable to rain enhancement. The topics include the integration of innovative ground-based, airborne, and space-based platforms to provide new insights into cloud formation and rainfall enhancement, the deployment of artificial intelligence and intelligent systems in meteorology and rainfall enhancement, and advances in artificial cloud formation.

                  OPENING SPEECHH.E. Omran Sharaf
                  AI – RESEARCH AND OPERATIONS (AI-RAO): A HYBRID MACHINE LEARNING FRAMEWORK TO COMBINE SATELLITE, RADAR OBSERVATIONS, AND NUMERICAL WEATHER PREDICTIONS FOR ENHANCED CLOUD-SEEDING OPERATIONSProf. Luca Delle Monache
                  RESULTS AND PROSPECTS OF THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON THE STIMULATION OF CLOUD CONVECTION IN THE UAEProf. Ali Abshaev
                  THE SOLAR VORTEX: ENHANCED WATER PRODUCTION ON A MASSIVE SCALEDr. John Hassard
                  ULTRASOUND SYSTEM FOR WEATHER FORMATIONProf. Zhanyu YAO
                  PANEL DISCUSSION

                  16:35 – 16:55
                  NETWORKING / END OF THE FIRST DAY

                  • Day 2
                  09:30 – 10:00
                  GUESTS’ ARRIVAL AND NETWORKING

                  10:00 – 11:40 Session Three
                  SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES IN RAINFALL ENHANCEMENT

                  This session will cover advances in the rain enhancement field, including the importance of sound scientific experimental design in rainfall enhancement studies; scientific advances contributing to cloud formation and rainfall enhancement; the critical characteristics of cloud seeding agents to promote warm-, cold- and mixed-phase processes leading to precipitation; and advances in cloud chambers and cloud chamber studies

                  OPENING SPEECHDr. Ray Johnson
                  A NEW SEA-SALT AND HYGROSCOPIC SEEDING BULK MICROPHYSICS PARAMETERIZATION: A WARM CUMULUS SIMULATION USING THE WRF PIGGYBACKING FRAMEWORKDr. Lulin Xue
                  USING ELECTRIC CHARGE IN RAINFALL ENHANCEMENTProf. Maarten Ambaum
                  ADVANCES IN INTELLIGENT SYSTEM DESIGN AND APPLICATION FOR RAINFALL ENHANCEMENTDr. Duncan Axisa
                  MODELLING STUDIES ON HYGROSCOPIC SEEDING AND MIXED-PHASE MICROPHYSICS IN CONVECTIVE CLOUDSDr. Juha Tonttila
                  DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECT OF DUST ON RAINFALLDr. Sagar Parajuli
                  PANEL DISCUSSION

                  11:40 – 12:00
                  COFFEE BREAK

                  12:00 – 15:35 Session Four
                  REGIONAL AND GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS IN RAINFALL ENHANCEMENT

                  This session will include an overview of international cloud seeding activities, in addition to significant lessons and results from cloud seeding globally and, in the UAE

                  OPENING SPEECHOmar Al Yazeedi
                  KSA – REGIONAL CLOUD SEEDING PROGRAMAyman bin Mohammad Al-Bar
                  CONSTRUCTION OF KOREAN CLOUD PHYSICS EXPERIMENTAL CHAMBER (K-CPEC) OF NIMSDr. Joo Wan Cha
                  OBSERVATIONS IN THE CLOUD SEEDING PILOT PROJECT IN ETHIOPIAYodahe A. Zemichael
                  A FRAMEWORK FOR DECISION SUPPORT AND EVALUATION OF OPERATIONAL WEATHER MODIFICATION PROJECTSProf. Roefol Burger
                  THE APPLICATION OF WEATHER MODIFICATION PROGRAMS FOR DROUGHT MITIGATION IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATESDr. Mohamed Mahmoud
                  WEATHER MODIFICATION ACTIVITY IN THAILANDDr. Pakdee Chantraket
                  13:35 – 15:00
                  LUNCH BREAK

                  15:00 – 15:35
                  PANEL DISCUSSION

                  15:35 – 15:45
                  NETWORKING/END OF SECOND DAY

                  • Day 3
                  09:30 – 10:00
                  GUESTS’ ARRIVAL AND NETWORKING

                  10:00 – 11:30 Session Five
                  CAPACITY BUILDING WITHIN THE UAE RESEARCH PROGRAM FOR RAIN ENHANCEMENT SCIENCE

                  The day three agenda comprises a poster session in which students participating in UAEREP awardee projects can present their work, in addition to a panel discussion on the experiences and challenges related to the goal of building capacity within the scientific fields related to the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science. Discussion topics will include higher education institutions and initiatives, to enable the next generation of students to build upon and further develop meteorological sciences.

                  10:00 – 10:05
                  OPENING SPEECH

                  10:05 – 10:30
                  PANEL DISCUSSION

                  10:30 – 11:30
                  POSTER SESSIONS

                  MACHINE LEARNING AT CW3E-SCRIPPS FOR PRECIPITATION ESTIMATION AND PREDICTIONDr. Agniv Sengupta
                  TARGETED ATMOSPHERIC OBSERVATION OF CONVECTIVE STORMS WITH SMALL UNSCREWED AIRCRAFTAlex Hirst
                  ELECTRICAL MEASUREMENTS OF FOG IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATESAhmad Al Kamali
                  SMALL CHANGES, BIG IMPACTS: HOW INTENDED AND UNINTENDED MODIFICATIONS TO THE LAND-ATMOSPHERE SYSTEM CAN IMPACT CONVECTIVE STORMSHenno Havenga
                  APPLICATION OF ADVANCED INSTRUMENTS FOR CREATION OF ARTIFICIAL UPDRAFTS AND CLOUDS. UAE FIELD CAMPAIGNS 2021-2022Kanshaubi Malkarov
                  THE UAE CLOUD SEEDING PROGRAM: A STATISTICAL AND PHYSICAL EVALUATION.Noor Al Shamsi
                  12:00 – 16:00 Session Six
                  TOWNHALL MEETINGS: OUTLOOK ON CURRENT RESEARCH GAPS AND TARGETED SOLUTIONS IN RAIN ENHANCEMENT RESEARCH

                  This open-format session brings together a line-up of experts in the fields of atmospheric science, hydrology, meteorology and weather modification, to discuss and determine the pathways to move forward in advancing the science of rain enhancement. Prior experiences will be shared based on the outcomes of UAEREP projects, in addition to other global rain enhancement initiatives. The main challenges and knowledge gaps will be highlighted, in order to define the current and future research needs to address them.

                  11:30 – 12:00
                  COFFEE BREAK

                  12:00 – 12:05
                  Introduction and Meeting Structure

                  12:05 – 12:45
                  Open Floor for Short Presentations

                  Working Group Leaders and open to IREF participants
                  12:45 – 13:30
                  Division into Working Group Roundtables:

                  Innovation in rain enhancement and cloud formation systems and technologies
                  Advances in physics-based and AI-driven modeling and forecasting
                  Field/airborne campaigns, observation platforms, and unmanned systems
                  Evaluation of rain enhancement efficiency
                  Technology Readiness Level considerations in the field of rainfall enhancement
                  13:30 – 14:30
                  LUNCH BREAK

                  14:30 – 15:15
                  TOWNHALL MEETING (Continued)

                  Summary of Roundtable Discussions: Working Group Leaders
                  15:15 – 15:50
                  Open Floor for Remarks

                  Open
                  15:50 – 16:00
                  Closing Remarks

                  16:00
                  END OF FORUM - MC CLOSING REMARKS

                  Media Center

                  6th International Rain Enhancement Forum Kicks Off in Abu Dhabi
                  26 January 2023 News
                  Three-day forum runs under patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister...
                  National Center of Meteorology to Host Sixth International Rain Enhancement Forum in Abu Dhabi
                  12 January 2023 News
                    Event to be held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime...
                  Experts Discuss Key Rain Enhancement Research Issues on Day One of International Rain Enhancement Forum
                  27 January 2021 News
                  His Excellency Dr Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi delivers keynote speech at opening session Abu Dhabi-UAE: 25 January, 2021 – The...
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                  25 Jan
                  Day 1
                  26 Jan
                  Day 2
                  27 Jan
                  Day 3
                  • H.E. Dr Abdulla Al Mandous

                    IREF has played a key role in positioning the UAE as global hub for driving research efforts in rain enhancement science to find practical solutions to global water stress. The huge attendance to this event, demonstrates its significance as an important platform to discuss the latest innovations in rain enhancement and water sustainability

                  Initiated by

                  Jumeirah At Etihad Towers
                  Address
                  Etihad Towers,West Corniche
                  Abu Dhabi - UAE