WMOD00520

• Title: Programme Al Ghait - Design and Evaluation of a Weather Modification Program in Morocco
• Date: 5/1/1984
• Country: Morocco
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

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PROGRAMME AL GHAIT - DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF A WEATIfER
MODIFICATION PROGRAM IN MOROCCO

A. Bensari, S. Benarafa, B. Loukah, M. Benassi, A. Mrabet
Direction de la Meteorologie Nationalf:, Minstere df~s Transports
Casablanca, Morocco

D. Matthews, J. Medina, C. Hartzell, T. Deshler.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation
Denver, Colorado, U.S,A.
(.Present affiliation: University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, U,S.A.)

1. INTRODUCIlON AND
BACKGROUND

Programme AI Ghait was designed as an
emergency response to assist the Kingdom of
Morocco during a period of severe drought.
The project was initiated upon the request of
His Majesty King Hassan II in 1983 for
assistance from the United States, In May
1984, the U,S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) signed an agreement
with the Government of Morocco to initiate a
multiyear winter snowpack augmentation
project in Morocco, USAID implemented the
project through a Participating Agency Service
Agreement (PASA) with the U.S. Department
of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation
(USBR). The USBR provided overall scientific
management. During the period August 1984
to August 1988, a USBR scientific advisor
resided in Casablanca, Morocco, and
coordinated the technical assistance effort. In
addition, modern meteorological and
communication equipment were provided under
the agreement.
The objectives of the project are to
(a) implement a scientifically based cloud
seeding demonstration program for winter
precipitation augmentation over the upper
portion of the Oued Oum er Rbia Basin in the
High Atlas Mountains to help alleviate the
current drought conditions, assess the amount
of additional water produced in the
river /reservoir system as a result of the
demonstration program, and evaluate the
effects of increased winter precipitation on
runoff and its subsequent uses; (b) examine
cloud and precipitation processes to improve
the scientific basis of the demonstration
program, and obtain evidence of its physical
plausibility; (c) concurrent with the first two
objectives, transfer winter precipitation
augmentation technology through informal and
formal training to enable Moroccan personnel

to design, plan, implement, monitor" and
evaluate similar winter precipitation
augmentation projects over the mountainous
areas of Morocco; and (d) increase awareness
of the need for an improved water resources
management program in the Oued Oum er
Rbia Basin, and increase awareness of the
contribution that weather modification can
make to the water resources.

2. LOCATION AND CLIMATOLOGY

Morocco is located on the northwest
comer of Africa. The region selected for the
target area is the Central High Atlas
Mountains at 31 to 33 ON and 5 to 7 oW with a
mean elevation of about 3000 meters mean sea
level. The High Atlas range extends from the
northeast to the southwest (generally 055 to
235 degrees) across Morocco. Therefore, with
westerly to northerly flow, orographic lifting is
most effective in producing clouds and
precipitation. This area receives about 500 to
1000 mm of precipitation annually, primarily
from November to May. Figure 1 shows a map
of the central part of Morocco and the
principal field sit(: locations of equipment and
operations personnel.

3. OPERATIONAL PLAN

Preliminary studies of the available
rawinsonde, precipitation, and steamflow data
indicated that the target area should have
sufficient opportunities for cloud seeding with
silver iodide (AgI). To determine the
frequency of supercooled water and the
microphysical structure of precipitation, cloud
physics data were collected under USBR
contract with the University of North Dakota,
U.S,A., from January to April and October to
Declember 1985. These flights indicated that
seed able conditions with supercooled liquid
wate:r from 0.1 to 2,0 g m,3 occurred frequently