Laserfiche WebLink
SPECTRA II is to avoid contributing to, or even appearing to contribute to, a hazardous weather situation <br />affecting any part of the project sites. Some of the more obvious detrimental conditions include tornadoes, <br />excessively heavy rains that cause flash floods, severe erosion and large-scale crop damage, strong and <br />damaging straight-line winds, and large hail. Accordingly, the following criteria were incorporated into the <br />SPECTRA II Operations Plan: <br />(1) Tornadoes and/or funnel-bearing clouds will not be seeded. <br />(2) Cloud systems that have the potential for producing excessive rainfall in a short <br /> period of time, as well as all cloud systems within a 20-mile radius of those <br />systems, will not be seeded. <br /> (3) Storm complexes that are expected to produce large hail reaching the ground will <br /> not be seeded. <br />. <br />(4) Seeding will not be conducted on any convective complex designated by the National Weather <br />Service in a “severe weather or flash-flood warning. (Issuance of a severe weather, or flash- <br />flood, watch will not in itself force the suspension of research work.) <br />(5) Research activities may be suspended at the discretion of the project administrator (Bomar) or <br />the principal investigators (Woodley andRosenfeld) when, in the opinion of either, a hazardous <br />condition, other than those identified above, is known or believed to exist. Such judgment will <br />be based on their experience and knowledge of the situation. <br />4.6.2 Public Relations <br />. To facilitate the exchange of information about the research <br />between project personnel and the public and media, a few individuals weredesignated for this purpose: <br />George Bomar, representing the State of Texas (512/936-4313), along with his on-site spokesmen, Gary Walker <br />(806/456-2155) and William Woodley (720-635-0098). All questions about the research, including access to <br />personnel and research facilities, were directed to them. <br />5.0SUMMARY OF WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN SPECTRA II <br /> No research effort ever evolves as was planned. This was the case for SPECTRA II. As of Sunday, June <br />5, 2005, the first phase of the field activities of SPECTRA-II in 2005, focusing on the effect of hygroscopic salt- <br />powder seeding on cloud processes, came to an end. The weather during the 35 (1 May through 4 June 2005) <br />days of the experiment was a disappointment in that there were only 7 days with convection suitable for the salt <br />experiments. There were 20 days of suppressed convection and 6 days of disturbed conditions with rain and low <br />ceilings. Additionally, there apparently was suitable convection on 2 days, but their cloud bases exceeded <br />10,000 ft and could not be reached by the salt seeder. On 7 days it was necessary to deploy the salt seeder to <br />other areas in order to reach suitable convection. There was one deployment of project personnel and two <br />aircraft (Cheyenne and Ag Wagon) to Norman, Oklahoma with the intention of conducting a salt seeding <br />experiment within range of the NSSL dual polarization radar. Unfortunately, suitable clouds never materialized <br />and it was not possible to take advantage of this unique opportunity. During this period it was not possible to <br />deploy to Pleasanton, Texas, for the glaciogenic studies because of the primary commitment in West Texasto <br />the salt seeding experiments. A deployment came later in the summer with one base glaciogenic seeding event. <br />17 <br />