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<br />A. PURPOSE <br /> <br />This National Weather Modification Plan is designed (1) to define a <br />coordinated and well-balanced program ot research and development that will <br />provide the knowledge needed to put weather modification on a firm scientific <br />basis and (2) to identify and describe specific field experiments needed to <br />develop weather modification technology in a socially beneficial manner. As <br />such, this document is intended to be an implementation plan. Broad policy <br />questions regarding legislative and regulatory requirements and international <br />implications are addressed in '~ational Weather Modification Policies and <br />Programs," a report submitted to the President and the Congress in November <br />1919 by the Secretary of Commerce. <br /> <br />Weather modification is the intentional or inadvertent alteration, by <br />human activity or intervention, of the atmospheric processes and events that <br />comprise the weather. The scientific community has given serious attention to <br />intentional weather modification for nearly 35 years. Inadvertent weather <br />modification has received much less attention, but public concern for and <br />scientific awareness of unintentional changes in the weather arising from <br />human activities have grown rapidly in the past 10 years. <br /> <br />This report briefly reviews current Federal programs in weather <br />modification and presents a plan of action for the first five years of the <br />national research program. The proposed program focuses on intentional <br />weather modification. Although inadvertent weather modification is not <br />addressed in detail in this plan, it is an important problem and should be an <br />integral pare of the total weather modification program. In fact, more <br />knowledge about unintentional weather modification is needed for prudent <br />planning of intentional weather modification operations. Such knowledge can <br />also lead to new ideas for deliberate modification. <br /> <br />The decision to focus on intentional weather modification was influenced <br />primarily by time constraints. The CAO Subcommittee on Weather Modification <br />felt that attempting to address both intentional and inadvertent weather <br />modification within the time available to prepare the plan would not allow for <br />adequate treatment of either. Hence, it was decided to concentrate on <br />intentional weather modification now and to consider inadvertent weather <br />modification in a future plan. <br /> <br />The program of research on intentional weather modification described in <br />this report--and the funding to support it--includes only efforts aimed at <br />problems that constrain the development and application of weather <br />modification science and technology. It therefore excludes atmospheric and <br />meteorological research efforts that have possible application to aspects or <br />weather modification but are not motivated specifically by fN'ea.ther <br />modification objectives. Although the difference be~N'een these two categories <br />of research is sometimes subtle and hard to define, only research motivated by <br />weather modification objectives is considered in this report. <br /> <br />- 2 - <br />