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<br />The proposed project must confront the evaluation design issue in the program design phase. <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />The program design phase must also confront that previous studies suggest that the window of <br />opportunity for obtaining precipitation increases from cloud seeding is narrower than previously <br />conceived (Cotton and Pielke, 1995). Furthermore, it is apparent in previous studies that successful cloud <br />seeding procedures for one area may be failures in another site. These results support that each area <br />requires separate study and the development of its own individual cloud seeding design. The proposed <br />project for the Headwaters Region must include a well-conceived design phase aimed at developing an <br />operational seeding plan for the specifics of the area. <br /> <br />A major concern for the design phase is the diverse terrain of the Headwaters Region and that cloud <br />seeding effects must be targeted for the lee side for portions of the western barrier. Figure 1.1 presents a <br />layout ofthe main high elevation areas of the Headwaters Region. <br /> <br />The Park Range in northern Colorado extends into southern Wyoming where the barrier is called the <br />Sierra Madre. The entire western barrier is sometimes referred to as the Park Range. The Medicine Bow <br />Mountains on the east side of the Headwaters Region also extend from northern Colorado into southern <br />Wyoming. Lengths of the higher elevation portions of the two primary barriers are about 65 mi for the <br />Park Range north of Rabbit Ears Pass, and 70 mi for the Medicine Bow barrier from Cameron Pass on the <br />south. Runofffrom more southerly portions does not drain into the North Platte River. The figure shows <br />large wilderness areas in the west and east barriers that will challenge the operational seeding design. <br /> <br />The proposed project must use the latest tools of measurement of field variables such as winds and cloud <br />liquid water, and numerical simulation tools including three-dimensional cloud models that can assist and <br />expedite the design of the cloud seeding component. Because of improvements in computers and cloud <br />model development and testing the past couple of decades, computer models are available to assist in the <br />project design, conduct and evaluation. For example, the Colorado State University cloud model known <br />as the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) has had some application to differing winter <br />storms over the Headwaters Region, at the high resolution of three-kilometer grid point spread. High <br />resolution simulation is needed to provide more information on parameters of orographic clouds. Some <br />results of recent cloud simulations with RAMS will be given later in this report. <br /> <br />1.2. Program General Plan <br /> <br />The proposed project is aimed at providing additional snowfall in the Headwaters Region. The project <br />plan will consist of two principal components: (I) an operational phase with proper evaluation capable of <br />determining cloud seeding effects on precipitation, (2) a cloud seeding design phase that consists of <br />studies aimed at determining and testing how to best seed winter clouds in the headwaters region and <br />what information must be collected in the operational phase for proper evaluation. Because each <br />geographical area presents different meteorological and terrain conditions than others studied, the project <br />plan must include developing a cloud climatology and cloud responses to the highly varying <br />terrain of the Headwaters Region. The design phase must establish what measurements and equipment <br />are appropriate for the operational phase. <br /> <br />2 <br />