WMOD00287

• Title: The National Weather Modification Plan
• Prepared For: CAO Subcommittee on Weather Modification
• Prepared By: The Working Group of the CAO Subcommittee on Weather Modification
• Date: 2/13/1981
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

program must carefully consider the environmental, legal, economic, and social
implications of weather modification, both locally and over the total affected
area, to identify potential costs or losses as well as the benefits of
modifying specific weather phenomena. Finally, the program must assess
similarities and differences among cloud systems in different geographical
areas and the effects of local factors to determine the transferability oI
proven techniques and develop expertise wi thin the user community so the .
technology will be applied effectively.

C. CURRENT PROGRAM

The Federal budget tor intentional weather modification research and
development totaled $16.7 million in FY 1980. These funds supported
fundamental research and experimentation in precipitation enhancement and
hurricane moderation by three Federal agencies--the National Science
Foundation (NSF) , the Department of the Interior's Water and Power Resources
Service (WPRS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
in the Department of Commerce.

D. PROPOSED PROGRAMS

Using the current programs as a base, this plan identifies seven program
areas as major components of the National Weather Modification Program: (1)
fundamental research; (2) environmental, legal, economic, and social research;
(3) precipitation enhancement; (4) hurricane amelioratio~ (5) other severe
storm abatement; (6) stratus and fog dissipation; and (7) international
projects. For selected program areas, the plan recommends specific research
activities and field e."tperiments to be conducted during the first five years
(FY 1982-1986) of the long-term program. For purposes or coordination and
collaboration, interagency panels will be formed to oversee each major
component of the National Program. These panels will be composed of program-
level representatives of each agency that has an interest in that component
and will be chaired by the agency that has the major responsibility in that
area or the program.

1. Fundamental Research

In this plan the term fundamental research refers to research on basic
scientific problems that are common to many weather modification objectives,
with emphasis on critical atmospheric processes. For example, nearly all
weather modification ef forts to date have been based on altering the
microphysical and dynamic processes or clouds. Therefore an essential element
of the National Weather Modification Program is a more comprehensive
understanding of ice formation processes, entrainment, dynamic and
microphysical interactions within clouds, and interactions between clouds and
their environment. Investigations will take ~~o forms--major programs to
address a broad range of questions and small project studies that focus on
specific questions or features unique to a particular locale.

The plan proposes four highly interactive and complementary major
programs. Tney are the Convective Storms Research Program, the Cumulus

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