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Last modified
7/28/2009 2:33:58 PM
Creation date
3/5/2008 10:53:13 AM
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Weather Modification
Title
Summary of the NOAA/Utah Atmospheric Modification Program: 1990-1996
Date
9/1/1998
State
UT
Weather Modification - Doc Type
Report
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<br />suggested a 56% of snowfall increase for the seeded storms when the temperatures on the main ridge were <br />-9 oC or colder. Later physical observations (Super and Heimbach, 1988) lent credibility to the statistical <br />findings. Further exploratory analysis by Super (1986), limited to 6 h periods with main ridge <br />temperatures of -9 oC and colder suggested that, "the seeding method used was highly effective during a <br />small portion of all seeded episodes, but had little or no effect for the other periods". It is noteworthy that <br />a double ratio of 2.22 (122% increase) was calculated by Super (1986) for the warm cloud top partition. <br />This suggests that large increases may be realistic for particularly seedable cases and these are responsible <br />for most of the seasonal increase detected. If the above statistical indications approximate reality, the <br />apparent seasonal snowfall increases of about 15% in the BRE were due to large percentage increases <br />from a small fraction of all units, and little or no increases ( or decreases) from all the rest. No evidence of <br />decreased snowfall due to seeding was found. <br /> <br />. <br />. <br /> <br />SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS <br /> <br />The purpose of this paper is to examine how the duration of a statistical winter orographic cloud seeding <br />experiment might vary with different assumed responses. Several previous investigations using Monte <br />Carlo simulations have assumed that each treated experimental unit (case) has the same percentage <br />response. There is increasing evidence that this simple model is unrealistic. It seems more likely that <br />seeding results in large percentage increases from a fraction of cases that are particularly amenable to <br />treatment, but has little or no effect on the remainder. <br /> <br />Monte Carlo techniques were applied to nonseeded 6h data blocks from the Bridger Range Experiment in <br />the simulated experiments. For simplicity, only the probability levels' a= 0.05 and p= 0.1 were run. <br />Following the results of the exploratory statistical analysis of Super (1986) for the cold partition, a net <br />precipitation increase of 66% was approximated in each experiment. However, this increase was achieved <br />by six different assumed responses to seeding. First, it was assumed that each "seeded" case resulted in a <br />66% precipitation increase. Second, only half the cases randomly chosen to be "seeded" had their <br />precipitation increased, but by 132% (2 x 66%). Similar procedures were followed until the final <br />simulation provided increases for only 1/6 ofthe "seeded" cases, but each was given an increased of396% <br />(6 x 66%). These simulations were calculated for both a "cold" partition (all available cases with main <br />ridge temperatures of -9 oC and colder) and a "warm" partition (all cases colder tha~ 0 OC). <br /> <br />It was found that the number of units required to achieve statistical significance varied considerably with <br />the different seeding effects. For the cold partition only about one winter season would be required if <br />each "seeded" case resulted in the assumed 66% increase. However, over 5 winters would be required if <br />the same net increase resulted from 396% increases applied to 1/6 of the "seeded" cases. <br /> <br />As might be expected, less time would be required if both the warm and cold cases could be successfully <br />treated, because of the large increase in available cases each winter. However, this was partially offset by <br />the increaseq variability associated with the warmer cases. <br /> <br />The implications of these results are sobering. It may be that the number of experimental units required to <br />achieve given a and ~ levels is far larger than estimated for a number of past experiments. This could <br />partially explain the frequent finding of inconclusive results. <br /> <br />A number of points need to be considered in designing future statistical experiments. First, strong <br />predictor-covariate relationships with target area precipitation are necessary to reduce the cases needed to <br />detect a seeding signal. Similarly, partitioning based on a good physical understanding is necessary to <br />reduce the number of experimental units that have minimal response to seeding. Third, improved <br /> <br />36 <br />
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