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Last modified
7/28/2009 2:39:10 PM
Creation date
4/18/2008 10:00:39 AM
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Weather Modification
Title
Ecological Effects of Weather Modification: A Problem Analysis
Date
5/1/1969
Weather Modification - Doc Type
Report
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<br />6 <br /> <br />FOG, HAIL, LIGHTNING, AND HURRICANES <br /> <br />Fog dispersal, so long as it is confined to airports, roads, and <br />other restricted localities where fog severely interferes with human <br />activity, will have little ecological effect. If it should become <br />feasible and desirable to change the fog climatology of broad areas <br />such as the north coast of California, the ecological consequences would <br />be profound. No irreversible ecological effects are foreseen from hail <br />or lightning suppression (83). <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />Hurricane control, although very difficult to achieve. could drastically <br />alter the water balance of the eastern seaboard of the United States, the <br />Gulf Coas.t, and the Caribbean region. Appreciable reduction in frequency of <br />hurricane winds could change forest structure in some localities, and might <br />also affect some marine cOllDllunities (85).. <br /> <br />ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF SEEDING AGENTS <br /> <br />Silver is a potentially toxic heavy metal that will be introduced <br />into the environment. Preliminary indications are that it will not <br />concentrate to harmful levels through either. terrestrial or equatic <br />food chains . The threat of environmental contamination from silver <br />iodide does not seem great enough to preclude its use at this time. <br />Close attention should be given to the problem, however (64). <br /> <br />Fog dispersal agents may have detrimental effects on plants and <br />animals over a long period. As a matter of public policy, aerial distribution <br />of unknown proprietary compounds should not be allowed on any but a strictly <br />experimental basis, even if tests convince health agencies that the <br />materials pose no illDllediate threat to human welfare. Full disclosure of <br />the composition of any such material added to the environment is necessary <br />in order that the scientific community as a whole may evaluate the pos- <br />sible long term effects (73). <br /> <br />MONITORING THE EFFECTS OF WEATHER MODIFICATION <br /> <br />A program to monitor the effects of weather modificatiQn should be <br />a part of a national (and indeed global) ecological survey and <br />monitoring program. It would be wasteful and inefficient to set up <br />separate programs to monitor ecological changes due to weather modification, <br />pesticides, and air pollution, for instance. and yet this is the direction <br />in which national policy appears to be headed (89). <br /> <br />Plans are not yet ready for implementing proposals for a national <br />ecological survey. A comprehensive systems analysis of: the endre <br />problem should be initiated at once. It would emphasize both th'e <br />institutional aspects" including management of the survey, interpretation <br />of the results, and procedures for applying the results through the political <br />process; and the technical biological aspects of collecting the data and <br />interpreting them to predict ecological responses. This analysis could <br /> <br />.~ <br />
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