WMOD00532

• Title: The Rain Stimulation Campaign in Panama Summer 1983
• Date: 6/1/1984
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

5. Conclusions

It proved feasible to clear the administrative path for an
emergency cloud-seeding operation, organizl~ it, and
put it in the field, all in the space of thirty days. The
operation thus initiated was performed in cornplianc'~
with the best current state-of-the-art except for a few
equipment and supply problems that usually occur
arising from the lack of sufficient time for preparation.

There were 33 days when seeding was done over both
watersheds (Gatun/Madden and Bayano), 21 days
when only Gatun-Madden was seeded, and 5 days
when only Bayano was seeded. Thus the total of
Gatun/Madden, seeding days was 54 and the: total of
Bayano seeding days was 38. There were 21 days when
no seeding was done because suitable clouds were not
seen in either watershed, and 10 days when both

aircraft were out of service due to mechanical prob-
lems.

The indications of precipitation response to the seeding,
hased on very limited data, were all in the direction of
increase and were fully consistent with expectations
derived from cloud models and general precipitation
physics. On 9 occasions, cloud developments strongly
suggestive of favorable seeding influence were seen
from the air on the radar screen, with 19 other
occasions of weakly favorabl,e indications and a further
24 occasions with no indications of effect. A strong
connection was noted between the appearance of
favorable influence and the amount of rain that fell, but
the data were insufficient to establish whether or not
this could be attributed to the seeding.

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