WMOD00394 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

II "These objectives are oriented toward :Learning definite answers of the technological factors and feasibility considera- tions involved in producing large quantities of additional streamflow in the upper Colorado River Basin." II II Studies of the associated social and environmental considera- tions will be made in conjunction with the Pilot Project to define any problems and suggest means of resolving them. Field experiments independent of the Pilot Project in other areas of the upper Basin and adjoining regions will furnish additional climatological data and seeding experiences to supplement the Pilot Project findings. . ." (Kahan, 1969; Bureau of Reclamation, Skywater Conference V, 1969). . ~ .. . 3. A project ". . . to produce positive increases in snowfall over large areas of the San Juan mountains and to provide for sound scientific, engineering, and economic evaluations of the precipitation increases in technology used". (Bureau of Reclamation, 1970; Bureau of Reclamation, 1971:) . III r 4. A project ". . . to establish, at a reasonable level of confidence, that weather modification in the Colorado River Basin can produce at least a specific amount of additional water at:~a cost not exceeding a specific figure. The accomplish- ment dI this objective requires: . . 1. A determination of the most likely amount of water added from a specified treatment. II A determination of the cost of the treatment. . - -~ ---.. ~ A verification that a treatmen(d;'fi=iency at least equal to that in past experimental-programs can be obtained in a full scale operational program. (Bureau of Reclamation, 1969) 3. 2. II II II The above constitute different ways of stating the Pilot Project objectives. They all apply. Difficulties arise in-accomplishing all of the objectives simultaneously. Problems related to maintaining strict scientific control while still resolving certain operational questions, introduces many difficulties. In some cases compromises are required. . III III. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL BASIS FOR THE PILOT PROJECT III ~ . II A. The Physical Basis for Seedi~~hic Clouds Efforts to increase orographic precipitation were started shortly after the initial discoveries of Schaefer in 1946 (Schaefer, 1946; Schaefer and Langmuir, 1946) tha.t clouds eould be artificially modified. Shortly after the initial cloud seeding experiments, T. Bergeron (1949) made "an inventory of atmospheric clouds and cloud systems" to evaluate their potential for weather modification. He concluded 'that "the main possibility for causing considerable arti- ficial rainfall might be found in certain kinds of orographic cloud systems". 3 ~"",,:~:'~~:'h:'~' -"'"