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<br />The San Juan operational program will include investigation of <br />ext~nded ~ea effects to improve understanding of basic questions: <br /> <br />1. Does an increase in overall precipitation in one area cause <br />more, less, or no change in precipitation in adjacent areas, and <br />why? <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />2. Do seeding agents persist to the extent that they affect <br />precipitation amounts in other areas? <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />3. Do changes in cloud dynamics affect cloud growth outside the <br />immediate area? <br /> <br />Increased understanding in this area will alleviate a continuing <br />source of potential controversy in the field of precipitation <br />management. <br /> <br />Parallel Studies <br /> <br />Two major parallel studies are optional to the funding for the San <br />Juan operational program. Transferability studies are required <br />prior to implementing Basinwide seeding, but may be conducted <br />after completion of the San Juan operational program. The delay <br />will postpone initiation of Basinwide seeding by several years. <br />Ground-based seeding studies are required to optimize the cost of <br />future operations. Basinwide seeding can be initiated without <br />performing ground-based seeding studies, but will eliminate the <br />potentially lower cost use of ground generators. <br /> <br />Transferability Studies. Transferability studies are essential to <br />the implementation of Basinwide precipitation management for the <br />Colorado River. Relevant meteorological and topographic data must <br />be collected and analyzed as part of the technology transfer <br />investigation to determine the frequency of seedable opportunities, <br />the optimum implementation procedures, and projected snowpack <br />increases for the five major runoff-producing areas in the Basin <br />that are candidates for seeding in addition to the San Juan <br />subbasin. Conducting these studies concurrently with the San Juan <br />Operational Cloud Seeding Project will reduce the time and cost <br />of implementing operational cloud seeding throughout the Basin. <br />The additional cost of the required transferability studies is <br />estimated to be $8.2 million over a period of 7 years. <br /> <br />Major questions to be addressed during these studies are: <br /> <br />1. Is the difference in orography ~n each area reflected by <br />differences in seedability, frequency of opportunity, or the <br />nature of implementation procedures? <br /> <br />V-8 <br />