WMOD00299

• Title: Physical Structure of Northern Colorado River Basin Cloud Systems
• Date: 9/1/1985
• State: CO
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

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the snowpack at high elevations. Other methods, such as importation and
ocean water desalinization, are too costly to implement. One method to
increase natural supplies is through application of weather modification
technology.
Weather modification research and operation programs have been
active in the western United States since the 1950's. Progress in
research has been slow. Conflicting evidence has resulted, partially
due to the variability of the storm systems affecting the western United
States and partially due to the lack of adequate instrumentation to
conduct the investigations. Since the mid-1970's, advances in
instrumentation have been substantial. With these new measurement
techniques, it is now possible to examine more quantitatively the cloud
properties and weather modification potential of these important cloud
systems. This dissertation is one contribution toward the re-evaluation
of the role of weather modification in the development of the future
water resources of this region.
In 1979, Colorado State University began a cloud physics research
program to determine the physical structure and weather modification
potential of wintertime cloud systems occurring over the Park Range, one
of the eight major subbasins supplying the Colorado River. The major

thrust of the cloud physics research occurred during two field progr~s,

the first during November and December of 1979 and the second during

December and January of the 1981-82 winter. The emphasis of these

experiments was to determine the natural physiCal structure of these

cloud systems so that a strong foundation for a weather modification

hypothesis could be established.