WMOD00279

• Title: Atmospheric Sciences - Alberta Research Council
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: General Information

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Alberta Environment will be able to measure rain accurately over much larger
areas ot the province using weather fadar and a computer system being
developed by the Alberta Research Council to convert the radar data into
on-line color display maps of rainfafl amounts.

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The Alberta Research Council is working with Alberta Environment to
increase the ability to forecast flooding throughout the province, based on
accurate knowledge of rainfall.

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History

Alberta's active interest in weather
modification began in 1956, when
scientists from the Alberta Research
Council and other organizations
joined forces to begin hail research
in Alberta.
In 1957, the National Research
Council supplied the first radar unit,
greatly increasing the scope of the
studies. Scientists had found radar
waves, aimed at clouds, bounced
off raindrops, snowflakes and
hailstones, producing "weather
echoes" - the denser the precipita-
tion, the stronger the echo.
Because of high hail losses,
farmers have long demonstrated
support for weather modification. In
the mid 1950s they formed the
Alberta Weather Modification Co-op
and hired I.p, Krick Associates to
carry out hail suppression. This pro-
gram operated from 1956 to 1968
using ground-based generators for
cloud seeding, supplemented with
aircraft seeding alter 1960.
The Alberta Research Council
began cloud seeding experiments in
1969 when silver iodide flares were
dropped into cloud lops from air-
craft.
In 1973, a ten-member Alberta
Weather Modification Board
(AWMB) was established under
Alberta Agriculture 10 administer
hail suppression and hail researCh
programs in response 10 a report of
a Special Legislative Commillee on
Crop Insurance and Weather
Modification.
A year later, the five-year Alberta
Hail Project began, combining hail
research with a new emphasis on
hail suppression through opera-
tional cloud seeding. The Alberta
ResearCh Council became the
research agency for the project.
The project was extended one
year in 1979. In 1980, the AWMB
was disbanded and the Minister of
Agriculture's Weather Modification
Advisory Committee was estab-
lished in its place. The project
began a new five-year plan under
the management of the Alberta
Research Council.