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<br />Seedability in Oklahoma <br /> <br />During the conduct of this program I got subjective impressions <br />of natural and artificial seedability of Oklahoma clouds which deserve <br />mention here. <br /> <br />First and most important, in the typical summer convective cloud situations <br />there appears to be a deficit of natural nuclei to serve as hydrometeor <br />embryos, both giant condensation nuclei and ice nuclei. By deficit, I mean <br />fewer than optimum for maximizing rain. <br /> <br />Flying under the bases of convective clouds several miles in vertical <br />dimensions, I was struck by the rarity of small raindrops. The clouds <br />were big enough and of sufficient duration such that giant condensation nuclei <br />would be expected to give rain. The lack of rain until the clouds showed <br />glaciated tops therefore implied that natural giant nuclei were rare. These <br />are what our hygroscopic seeding introduces artifically, and so evidently <br />Oklahoma can benefit from such seeding. The only case of natural rain <br />I noted from non-freezing clouds was October 1 when the clouds were <br />associated with a diffuse frontal system. . <br /> <br />By looking at a physical mechanism one may be able to explain the apparent <br />deficit of giant hygroscopic particles in Oklahoma. Cloud bases are fairly <br />low (less than 2 km above ground), and relative humidity is rather high even <br />at the ground. Thus liquid droplets which form giant condensation nuclei <br />will not get much smaller by evaporation as they descend from cloud base to <br />near the ground. Also the average mixing depth is small, being only 2 km <br />deep if we ignore the isolated clouds. The final factor is that vertical mixing <br />is absent for about 16 hours from about 6 P. M. to 10 A. M. Droplets (or <br />any sort of particles) which are big enough to serve as good raindrop embryos, <br />say 50 p.m diameter particles, fall just fast enough in 16 hours to be removed <br />at the ground. Ones which fall slower and are not removed are too small to <br />be good initiators of raindrops. Thus there is not a daily carryover of such <br />particles; those which are present must.come from more recent sources, <br />such as from dust devils and other wind-created particulates. <br /> <br />At Flagstaff, Arizona, MacCr.eady and Takeuchi (1968) noted that drizzle <br />droplets from giant condensation nuclei appeared in the summer con- <br />vective clouds about half the time. An hypothesis as to the rarity of such <br />particles in Oklahoma and their commonness in central Arizona is as <br />follows. In Arizona, the mixing depth is twice as great as in Oklahoma, <br />and the relative humidity near the ground is much less. Hygroscopic <br />particles, say put up to heights of 6 km or more by convection in the <br />deserts of California or Arizona, can stay airborne overnight even if they <br />are large. In summary, hygroscopic particles giving rain-embryo droplets <br />in the 50 pm - 100 pm diameter range at cloudbase will fall out overnight in <br /> <br />33 <br />