In an area where the rain is rare and more valuable than the oil, the United Arab Emirates once created its places on a audacious engineering miracle: to throw a huge Antarctic iceberg on its sun-folded coast, to quench the thirst, to call the clouds, and perhaps also open the climate pattern. But by 2025, the only glacier snow that has made it in Dubai is not exiting the coast, but cooling the highball glasses in the roof bars, courtesy of a boutique Greenland startup.
UAE Iceberg Project : Cold ambition in a hot desert
In 2017, the National Advisor Bureau Limited, launched by a private Abu Dhabi-based company, the UAE iceberg project demanded a large-scale tabular iceberg to construct, including Antarctica to Fujarah, from a coastal Emirates on the Bay of Oman, about 2 kilometers wide.
3D concept of Iceberg posted about 3 kilometers from the coast of Fujarah for harvesting/ image: National Advisory Bureau Limited.
According to Abdullah Alshehi, the managing director of the firm and the chief architect of the project, the argument was straightforward: an average Iceberg has more than 20 billion gallons of fresh water, enough to supply 1 million people for five years. “This is the world’s pure water,” he told Gulf News in 2017. And the United Arab Emirates, 15% of the world’s 15% of the world’s consumption and facing reduced groundwater within 15 years, was not in a position to ignore unconventional ideas.The iceberg elected through a satellite near Hurd Island in the southern Ocean, 12,000 kilometers (ant6,480 knots), will work as a 10 -month travel to the sea of southern, Indian and Arabia, which will be to reach the coast of Fujarah in the UAE. Surrounded by large ocean-going ships, it will travel north through the Indian Ocean before entering the Gulf of Oman. On arrival, it will be stationed about 3 kilometers from the coast of Fujirah. The harvesting will begin immediately for the purpose of extracting potable water within two to three months before the significant melting. Computer simulation commissioned by the company estimated that during the journey may lose up to 30% of the mass of Iceberg, a challenge that team expects to reduce its arrival during the UAE winter season, when the sea temperature is low and slows down by melting.To prevent the breakup during a long journey, Alshehi’s firm developed a patent-length metal belt, a type of reinforced corset that was designed to retain Iceberg against wave tension and temperature gradients. In 2020, the UK’s intellectual property office gave Alshi a patent for its invention, called the “Iceberg reservoir” system. The patent was promoted as a promotion of a reliability to attract investment and strengthen the technical feasibility of the project.
In 2020, the “Iceburg reservoir” system of the UAE iceberg project was patented by the UK Intellectual Property Office/ Image: National Advisory Bureau Limited
A pilot project, which cost between $ 60–80 million, was declared for 2019. A small iceberg was to be taken to the Cape Town or Perth as a proof of the concept. The full UAE project tagged a price of $ 100–150 million.No testing was confirmed, despite a luxurious website launch (www.icebergs.world), promises of scientific panels, and global human water relief vision. By 2025, no operational progress has been made, there is no updated logistics, and there is no official cancellation, just silence for a long time.
Rainmaker fantasy
Especially a memorable proposal was its near-gesture secondary goal: Climate Engineering. Alshi claimed that the presence of a huge iceberg floating on the United Arab Emirates coast could inspire localized weather changes.Local media said, “A iceberg near the Arabian Sea will cause a pool and rain in the cold air.” Himshil, he argued, “can make a vortex” that will attract clouds from the entire region, creating a year -long rain for the desert interior. This, he claimed, can help replace reverse desertifications and dry scenarios in succulent, green areas, with gains for agriculture, biodiversity and wider ecosystem.Meteorologists were not sold. While some admit some localized effects, such experts such as a minor cloud formation due to temperature differences, Linda.com from Weather.com said that there was no possibility of regional rain due to the complex nature of atmospheric mobility.
Case for water crisis and frustration
The UAE’s intense water issues form the basis of the justification of the project. The country experiences 120 millimeters of rainfall annually, and according to an associated press report in 2015, its groundwater can be completely reduced within 15 years. Meanwhile, one of the highest water usage rates in the world in Gulf states is one of the world: approximately 500 liters per person per day.Unlawnization, though important, is energy-intensive, expensive and environmentally harmful. Alasheh warned of plants of gilanization, which pump saline centered in the Gulf, increase salinity and damage marine life. His iceberg’s initiative, he claimed that despite concerns about pulling 100,000 years old snow mass worldwide, it would not only be cheaper in eco-friendly, but also in eco-friendly.He said environmental impact assessments were made, and the results suggested minimal disruption in the ecosystem, although no independent third-party reviews were ever published.
Snow, re -prepared: a Greenland Startup Sweet Sweet Station
While Alshi’s Antarctic ambitions have stopped in the bureaucracy part, a small, scrapier company in Greenland has quietly realized a minor version of its vision, not as a human water source, but as a luxury enjoyment.Established in 2022 by Greenlandic entrepreneurs, the Arctic ice Ships ice was cut from Greenland’s Fazards to high-end bar and restaurant in Dubai. His first commercial shipment, approximately 22 metric tons, came recently, which offers the “clean H₂o on Earth” to be shaved in ice cubes for cocktails, ice baths and facial massage at Dubai’s spa.
Arctic snow crop ancient glacier pieces from Greenland’s fogels, testing them, and ships were purified to Dubai for luxury use/ image: Arctic Snow
This process is the artisan: using a crane-equipped boat, workers naturally assemble a quiet iceberg from Nup Congress Fozard near Nuuk. Only the most obvious, bubble-free ice, which is locally known as “black ice”, is selected. They are believed to be over 100,000 years of age, never touched soil or contaminants.Each chunk is cut with sanitized chainsaws, stored in food-grade insulated boxes, and sample for laboratory analysis for screen for ancient microorganisms or harmful bacteria. The ice is sent through refrigerated containers riding on cargo vessels, already returning empty from Greenland, reducing additional emissions. The second leg from Denmark to Dubai completes the frozen supply chain.Despite the company’s carbon-plate commitment, the backlash has been fierce. Critics prolong the online concept as “climate diastopia”, arguing that glacial ice should not be modified, especially looking at the rapid melting of the Greenland ice sheet. Co-founder Malik V. Rasmusen says that some messages have worked on the dangers of death.Nevertheless, the Arctic ice emphasizes that it is creating an economic opportunity for the economically dependent Greenland, where a 55% budget is subsidized by Denmark. “We make all our money with fish and tourism,” Rasmusen said. “I always wanted to find something else that we could benefit.”
Between innovation and spectacle
Both projects, huge Iceburg Tow from Antarctica and boutique glacier cubes from Greenland highlight a pressure stress: how far humanity will go into safe water, and at what cost?Alshi’s vision is bold but is full of logical and moral challenges. Iceburg is not endless Akshay, and roping them in hemispheres makes them feel more science-fi than durable.Meanwhile, the enterprise of Arctic Ice has found a controversial niche, a combination of novelty, luxury and symbolism. In the time of climate anxiety, it provides an icy confusion of control, frozen pieces of a melting world, are designed in cocktail regions.Do climate solutions or spectacles, these ideas raise major questions: Who owns natural snow? Can it be deducted responsibly? And as -as water scarcity increases, how do we balance local needs with global care?For now, the huge iceberg of the UAE remains a dream, and Dubai’s cocktails are as cold as always, just slightly away from north, and in small, sparkling doses.
