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<br />A. POTENTIAL BENEFITS <br /> <br />Effec~ive operaeional weather modification technologies could have <br />substantial benefits that outweigh the costs by impressive amounts. <br /> <br />The ability to deliver more water in the right places and at the right <br />times for farming, irrigation, hydroelectric power. and municipal and <br />industrial water use would benefit agricultural and urban areas. <br /> <br />Airlines and their passengers could save a great deal of time and money <br />if a reliable technology existed to dissipate fog, avoiding closed airports <br />and delayed or cancelled flights. <br /> <br />Hurricane damage and loss of life from high water and winds could be <br />reduced significantly by effec~ive techniques for hurricane amelioration. <br /> <br />A successful seeding strategy to modify hailstorms could substantially <br />reduce crop and property damages from hail, particularly in the Great Plains <br />region. <br /> <br />The promise of such tangible benefits provides strong motivaeion for <br />pursuing a research and development program to develop weaeher modification <br />technologies. However, ehere may be problems in applying the technologies in <br />some situations because of adverse environmental effects or undesirable <br />societal consequences. Since these issues will affect actual operational <br />applications, there must be a serong program to seudy the many possible <br />socieeal and environmental impacts of weather modification. The socioeconomic <br />aspects of weather modification should be assessed simultaneously with <br />developaent of operational methods, so that technologies thae provide the <br />maximum societal benefit. can be produced. <br /> <br />B. NATIONAL PROGRA'1 RATIONALE <br /> <br />The National Weather Modification Program is based on t'WO general <br />assumptions. First it is assumed that modification of certain weather <br />phenomena is scientifically possible. The second assumption is that, if the <br />weather is modified reliably and with predictable results, society will <br />benefit substantially, both economically and by saving lives. Validating <br />these assumptions and developing a reliable and acceptable technology are the <br />principal tasks for the researc."l program. <br /> <br />To accomplish these tasks, the research program must be broad. It must <br />investigate crucial microphysical and cloud scale processes and their <br />interactions, conduct cloud seeding experiments, and study natural and <br />artificially enhanced interactions be tween clouds and be ~...een cloud systems <br />and their environment. The program muse include background studies to <br />understand natural weather conditions and their variability and to develop <br />more effective procedures for evaluating the effects of cloud seeding. It <br />must include experimenes co clearly confirm seeding hypotheses, demonstrate <br />the economic value or the techniques, ana a~plore the social impacts. ~.e <br /> <br />iv <br />