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<br />e <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />seeding will be attempted during such warm episodes. However, to be effective, propane <br />must be released directly within cloud, or at least where the air is saturated with respect <br />to ice. Silver iodide, however, has the significant advantage that it can be released well <br />upwind of, and below, the orographic cloud. This can allow much greater time for <br />dispersion so a large volume of cloudy air can be seeded by a single generator. Further, <br />while propane nucleates ice only very near the dispenser, AgI can continue to produce <br />new ice crystals for relatively long periods within cloud. These factors favor AgI seeding <br />whenever cloud is sufficiently cold for the AgI to create ice. It is expected that AgI will <br />continue to be the seeding agent of choice in the Basin, with propane possibly used during <br />warmer storm episodes. Therefore, it is important for AgI seeding tests to choice an <br />experimental area that offers a high frequency of cold SL W cloud near the mountain <br />surface. <br /> <br />It is also important that the barrier selected have a long across-the-wind dimension as <br />this will tend to force the air over the barrier. Air follows the path of least resistance and <br />will tend to go around shorter ridges or isolated peaks. An experimental barrier should <br />have a substantial along-the-wind dimension to allow time for ice crystal nucleation by <br />the seeding agent, and subsequent crystal growth and fallout to the surface, before the air <br />reaches the lee subsidence zone. An alternative is to seed from one barrier with the <br />intention of targeting a downwind barrier parallel to the fIrst. Both the Lake Almanor <br />experiment in California, and the Bridger Range Experiment in Montana, used this <br />strategy with apparent success, and current experimental propane seeding in California is <br />using the same approach. <br /> <br />To illustrate the requirement for a long across-the-wind dimension, consider that many ice <br />crystals have fall velocities near 30 cm S.l. Such crystals require approximately 2000 s to <br />settle to the surface from the top of a ground-released seeding plume typically reaching <br />600 m above the surface. Winds in this layer during winter storms usually range <br />between 5-20 m S.l, with 10 m S.l being a typical value. In this example, ice crystals will <br />travel 20 km (12.4 mi) horizontally during their fall with a 10 m S.l average wind speed, <br />and twice that distance with a 20 m S.l wind. Of course, ice crystals formed nearer the <br />mountain surface should take less time (distance) to settle to the ground, ignoring the <br />effects of temperature on ice nucleation and crystal growth rates. <br /> <br />Storms with stronger winds (e.g., 15-20 m S.l) tend to produce more forced uplift and more <br />SL W condensate. Such storms should have considerable seeding potential during periods <br />with limited natural ice crystals, provided the crystals can settle to the surface before <br />being carried to the lee of the barrier where sublimation and evaporation take place. <br />Consequently, it is well to have as great an along-the-wind dimension as possible. <br />Mountain barriers that are less than 20 km wide likely will be difficult to. target with <br />seeding-produced crystals during many windier, wetter storms. Many barriers are <br />narrower than 20 km, but it is again noted that seeding from one ridge to target a <br />downwind parallel ridge should be successful. <br /> <br />Yet another important factor in a target area is the ability to make accurate snowfall rate <br />measurements at the surface. This key observation is one of the most difficult to make in <br />many mountain areas because of wind-related errors. Precipitation gauges significantly <br />undercatch snowfall with winds of only a few meters per second, and the errors markedly <br /> <br />4 <br />