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<br />": <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />i. <br /> <br />:. <br /> <br />hyp~thesis, was conducted. Although the experiment iailed to demonstrate statistically <br />all the hypothesized steps, the reasons f'or the iailures could be traced back in the physical <br />data set (Cooper and Lawson, 1984). This in itself is a significant result indicating the <br />importance of' physical measurements and studies to be able to gain understanding in <br />the underlying physical processes in each experiment. Other experiments which used this <br />approach are Canadian studies by Isaac et al.(1977, 1982) and English and Marwitz(1981) <br />and South African studies by Krauss et al., (1987). Results from summertime convective <br />seeding experiments have been described in the literature (e.g., Dye et al., 1976, Holroyd <br />et al., 1978; Sax et al., 1979, Hobbs and Politovich, 1980). Most of these experiments <br />were conducted on semi-isolated cumulus congestus clouds to provide a relatively simple <br />cloud dynamics framework to confirm f'undamental cause and effect relations of cloud <br />microphysical processes. However, such clouds do not contribute significantly to rainfall <br />at the ground. Convective complexes contribute significantly more than semi-isolated <br />cumulus congest us clouds to the ra.itlfaU at the surface in most regions where a major <br />part of the annual precipitation is the result of convective activity. However, convective <br />complexes are much more complex dynamically than the smaller clouds because they are <br />to a large extent maniiestations of mesoscale and large scale dynamical processes. <br /> <br />There presently exists no proven methods to quantitatively predict the likelihood of <br />success of cloud seeding, or the magnitude of the precipitation increase that might result. In <br />addition, results from an experiment in one geographic location may not be transferable <br />to other locations and seasonal and intra-seasonal changes in environmental conditions <br />may produce different responses to seeding. Results from many experiments can therefore <br />be viewed as likely indicators rather than substantive quantitative evidence for success. <br />Future investigations should thus concentrate on establishing a physical hypothesis that <br />incorporates all the major components of the precipitation formation processes in order <br />to provide as sound a scientific basis as possible for estimating the magnitude of the <br />expected effect. To attain this objective we will have to increase our understanding of the <br />individual components of the precipitation formation process. Progress in understanding <br />a single component of this process is intrinsically limited if understanding of all the major <br /> <br />12 <br />