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<br />. . <br /> <br />seeded units showing a treatment response, that unit would have triple the response ofa simple model, <br />which had each seeded unit showing a response. Net treatment responses were taken from the most <br />successful partitions found for the BRE. Experimental units were added until a 0.05 one-tailed P level <br />was achieved, where P is the probability of incorrectly concluding that there is a positive seeding effect <br />when none exists (type I error). Each simulation was repeated 1000 times to estimate the number of <br />experimental units needed to reach a specified power level (I - /1), where f3 is the probability of a type II <br />error-the probability of not detecting a treatment response when one exists. <br /> <br />SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS <br /> <br />The main purpose of this paper is to explore how variable responses to seeding might have affected the <br />statistical power of the test of past experiments. Thfs was done by examining how the experimental <br />duration might vary for winter orographic cloud seeding statistical designs that were common in the past, <br />using different assumed responses to treatment. Most previous investigations assumed that each treated <br />experimental unit would have the same percentage precipitation increase. Increasing evidence shows that <br />this simple model is physically unrealistic. Seeding likely results in large percentage increases from a <br />fraction of cases that are particularly amenable to treatment, but has little or not effect on the remaining <br />cases. This result is likely true for other type of weather modification (rain augmentation, hail <br />suppression), so the results in this paper may have a more general application beyond winter orographic <br />cloud seeding. <br /> <br />Monte Carlo techniques were first applied to simulated experiments using nonseeded 6-h data from the <br />BRE. Seeding response models had a percentage of precipitation increase to all or a fraction of seeded <br />experimental units. Only the one-tailed probability level ex = 0.05 was considered in all simulations. <br />Following the results of the exploratory statistical analysis of S for the cold partition, a net precipitation <br />increase of 66% was approximated in each experiment. These simulations were calculated with all <br />available non seeded cases with main ridge temperatures of -9 oC and colder and a westerly wind <br />component at 700 hPa. <br /> <br />The number of units required to achieve statistical significance varied considerably with the different <br />assumed treatment responses. For the 6-h BRE dataset, only a single winter of randomized seeding would <br />be required to achieve a = 0.05 with a power of 0.9 if all treated experimental units responded with a 66% <br />increase (model I). However, if only one-sixth of the units responded, though each with a 396% increase, <br />almost six winters of experimentation would be requiredto achieve the same a and power levels. Similar <br />results were obtained with the BRE and Idaho 24-h datasets. Simulations that limited seeding responses <br />to the smallest or null accumulations indicated that there was little likelihood of deteqted with an effect <br />with confidence. <br /> <br />Simulations were also done in which a constant increase in precipitation amount was added to all or a <br />fraction of seeded units partitioned by natural precipitation accumulation during the experimental period. <br />These simulations also demonstrated a sensitivity to the character of simulated precipitation increases for <br />all the datasets. These simulations reinforced the experimental design issues highlighted by the models I, <br />II and III presentations; more experimental units are needed if only a fraction oftreated units respond to <br />seeding. <br /> <br />The simulations illustrate the importance of considering power as well as a in experimental design. <br />Conducing a randomized seeding experiment without some physically reasonable estimate of power is <br />very much a "crap shoot". An acceptable a level mayor may not result in the time allowed for the <br />experiment (often determined by the sponsor's patience and resources). If the desired a level is achieved, <br /> <br />72 <br />