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<br />overhead passage of three of the seedlines. Two ground-based seeding experiments were reported <br />that also resulted in substantial microphysical effects at aircraft altitudes, Light snowfall was <br />observed to reach the mesa top from one of these experiments and surface snowfall was probably <br />caused in the other. These experiments offer some of the most convincing physical evidence <br />available that seeding winter orographic clouds can, under some conditions, result in precipitation <br />increases at the surface. <br /> <br />1.2.7 Sierra Nevada Experiments. - Many attempts were made to conduct physical <br />experiments during the course of the SCPP (Sierra Cooperative Pilot Project) in the Sierra Nevada <br />of California (Reynolds and Dennis, 1986). A survey of 36 SCPP experiments is given by Deshler <br />et al. (1990). A trajectory model was used to position the seeding aircraft so that resulting ice <br />particles were calculated to settle on and around a well-instrumented target site well up the <br />windward slope of the barrier. A cloud physics aircraft, weather radar, and aspirated ice particle <br />imaging probe in the target were the primary means of documenting key links in the chain of <br />physical events expected to follow seeding of the postfrontal stratus and stratocumulus clouds, The <br />success rate for detecting seeding effects in the 36 experiments is stated as 35 percent for the <br />aircraft, 4 percent for the radar, and 17 percent for the imaging probe on the surface. Only two <br />cases were claimed to document all links in the chain of events resulting from seeding. The authors <br />noted that, "A variety of reasons contributed to the poor success at measuring seeding effects." <br />They pointed to factors such as the limited and variable SL W content of the clouds, the high na tural <br />IPC (due to ice multiplication) masking increased concentrations of ice particles due to seeding, and <br />the logistics of coordinating the various measurement platforms which sometimes led to long delays <br />in initiating seeding. <br /> <br />A more promising case study was recorded during the final SCPP field season (Deshler and <br />Reynolds, 1990). A seedline of AgI was released by flying across the wind in a stratiform cloud with <br />an acetone-fueled generator in operation. The research aircraft followed the seedline for over <br />90 minutes (100 km) with an acoustical ice nucleus counter, although passes between 19 and <br />61 minutes after seeding apparently were below the seedline. Enhanced IPC was associated with <br />the seedline position from 64 to 90 minutes after seeding. Unfortunately, it was impractical to <br />target the instrumented ground site and no indication of seeding effects was found in the <br />precipitation gauge network, <br /> <br />~ <br />f <br /> <br />1.2.8 Tushar Range Experiments. - Physical experiments were attempted on the Tushar <br />Mountains of Utah during early 1989. Preliminary analysis of these experiments is discussed by <br />Huggins and Sassen (1990). Silver-in-snow measurements suggest that the seeding material rarely <br />reached the target. Examination of aspirated ice particle imaging probe data showed little success <br />in demonstrating seeding effects at the intended target. The basic approach in the Tushar <br />experiments was to operate one to three high-altitude AgI generators, basing targeting on upwind <br />rawinsonde winds, in attempts to affect snowfall and cloud structure (revealed by radar, lidar and <br />microwave radiometer) at and above the target. Generators were pulsed on and off at 1- to 2-hour <br />intervals, and time changes in snowflake characteristics, precipitation rate, and snow silver content <br />were expected to vary accordingly. In the absence of wind observations near the mountainous <br />terrain, or aircraft tracking of the seeded volume, it seems unlikely that it will ever be determined <br />where the AgI was transported. <br /> <br />1.2.9 HIPLEX Summer Experiment. - HIPLEX-1, while dealing with summer convective rather <br />than winter orographic clouds, is worth noting because of the well-thought-out and detailed seeding <br />hypothesis and well-designed field program, which monitored each key step in the physical <br /> <br />5 <br />