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<br />APRIL 1990 <br /> <br />DESHLER, REYNOLDS AND HUGGINS <br /> <br />321 <br /> <br />i <br />I; <br /> <br />image concentration, with no artifact rejection. Total <br />image concentrations were used since, in the orographic <br />clouds investigated during this SCPP experiment, the <br />dominant source of artifacts was "zero area" images. <br />Since seeding initially produces many tiny ice crystals, <br />particularly dry ice seeding, seeding signatures are likely <br />to be seen first in the uncorrected 2D-C 2D-P data. <br />Averages of liquid water content (LWC) were calcu- <br />lated from the liquid water probe available for the day, <br />with preference given to the CSIRO probe. <br />For the radar data the maximum effective reflectivity <br />factor (dBZ) detected in a box centered on the mid- <br />point of the initial seedline position was averaged. The <br />analysis box was 3 km on a side, with a height of I <br />km. For the averages, data were taken from the volume <br />scan prior to seeding, all scans during seeding, and the <br />scan following the end of seeding. The radiometer liq- <br />uid water measurements represent a 3-hour average <br />closest in time to the midpoint of each seeding exper- <br />iment. Note that the radiometer was located at KGV <br />and not at the seeding location. <br />Precipitation echo types (PETS) are also included <br />in Table 4. These are specific radar echo patterns that <br />existed over the American River basin as seeding oc- <br />curred. Heggli et al. (1983) describe PETS in detail, <br />but basically major bands (MB) and embedded bands <br />(EB) are various types of rainbands, area-wide (A W) <br />represent full scope echo coverage and stable condi- <br />tions, orographic (0) are echoes confined to the <br />mountain barrier, C1 and C2 represent convective <br />echoes with scattered to broken echo coverage, and CT <br />represents nearly stationary lines of convective cells. <br />It is obvious from Table 4 that the experiments were <br />conducted in a variety of conditions; although seeding <br />material was always released at temperatures ~ -150e. <br />The most common range was from -12 to -60e. Liq- <br />uid water at aircraft altitude was generally quite low, <br />but the average of the maximum values indicates SLW <br />was present, if only sporadically, in amounts well above <br />instrument threshold (0.05 g m -3) during nearly all <br />experiments. <br />Table 5 compares the initial conditions from Table <br />4 for experiments with observed seeding effects and <br />those with no effects (ignoring placebo cases). Average <br />liquid-water content was identical in the two samples; <br />however, radar reflectivity, 2D-P concentration, and <br />2D-C concentration were, respectively, 2, 2, and 3 times <br />greater in cases with no detectable seeding effects com- <br />pared to cases with some type of observed seeding effect. <br />This comparison indicates that the capability to mea- <br />sure seeding effects depended on initial cloud condi- <br />tions. The instrumentation used could best separate <br /> <br />I' <br /> <br />seeding signal from background noise when clouds had <br />low natural particle concentrations and relatively few <br />precipitation-sized particles (low radar reflectivity). It <br />is likely that in other cases effects were produced but <br />not observed. Results from other projects have shown <br />similar tendencies. Observations of seeding effects in <br />the Cascades were almost entirely from nonprecipitat- <br />ing clouds with simple structure (Hobbs et al. 1981; <br />Hobbs 1975b). Likewise Super and Heimbach (1988) <br />were able to delineate effects from ground generators <br />in clouds with very low background ICe. <br /> <br />a. Seeding effects observed by the research aircraft <br /> <br />Results from seed curtain penetrations by the re- <br />search aircraft are compiled in Table 6. The first five <br />columns document for each day the seeding material, <br />the number of curtains released by the seeding aircraft, <br />the number penetrated by the research aircraft, and <br />the percent observed to have seeding signatures (as de- <br />fined in the case studies). The remaining columns <br />summarize measurements from within individual cur- <br />tains. These columns do not contain data from all the <br />curtains, but give a representative sample across a rel- <br />atively wide range of times after seeding and may con- <br />tain measurements from two or more curtains. Particle <br />growth rates and curtain spread rates were determined <br />as in the case studies. Altogether 238 seedlines were <br />initiated during this experiment. Forty-two of these <br />seedlines were placebo and the research aircraft pen- <br />etrated 34 of these or 81 percent. Of the remaining 196 <br />treated seedlines, the research aircraft penetrated 123 <br />of them or 63 percent. Seeding signatures were detected <br />in 43 of these curtains or 35 percent. <br /> <br />I) CO2 PELLETS <br /> <br />There were 172 seedlines initiated using CO2 pellets <br />and 100 of these were penetrated by the research air- <br />craft. Seeding signatures were observed in 33 of these <br />seedlines. This is not a high success rate considering <br />the high concentrations of ice expected to result from <br />seeding with CO2. There may be several reasons for <br />these poor results. Insufficient liquid water along the <br />seedline would limit the growth of ice crystals to less <br />than a detectable size. High natural ICC would mask <br />the high concentrations expected from seeding and also <br />would compete with the artificial ice embryos for the <br />available water. Problems with dry-ice delivery would <br />cause the distribution of CO2 along the seedline to be <br />sporadic, and sometimes nonexistent. The CO2 delivery <br />system was a problem in the early years of the exper- <br />iment, particularly 1983/1984. The dispensing system <br /> <br />FIG. 22. Measurements collected at KGV of cloud liquid water, atmospheric water vapor, precipitation rate, and surface snow crystal <br />concentrations, size, habit, riming, and aggregation as in Fig. 15. The PPE for SI-SIO are indicated at the bottom along with the arrival of <br />NI and the extrapolated arrival of N2 and N3. At the top, the solid line is liquid water and the dashed line water vapor, as measured by <br />the radiometer. The missing 2D-C data at 2355 is due to a tape change, while from 0025 to 0035 there was no precipitation. <br />