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<br />amount of precipitation a given class of clouds contri- <br />butes to the seasonal total, and the total amount of pre- <br />cipitation that falls from all seeded clouds during the <br />season. In addition, data from far outside the project <br />area will be examined for any effects on precipitation. <br />Each site will have an ecological study to monitor envi- <br />ronmental effects of the program. Economic studies will <br />be made to arrive at better estimates of the value of <br />additional water produced by cloud seeding. <br /> <br />The Bureau of Reclamation is cooperating with a number <br />of State and Federal agencies in planning and operating <br />the High Plains Cooperative Program. State as well as <br />Federal funds and personnel are involved in the program. <br />The principal State agencies are the Montana Department <br />of ~atural Resources, which is handling the surface rain- <br />gage network and the environmental studies at the Miles <br />City site, the Kansas Water Resources Board, and the <br />Texas Water Development Board. In addition, representa- <br />tives of all the High Plains States have been involved <br />in the planning phases of the program. <br /> <br />Existing climatological data for the three project sites <br />is sparse, and data from other weather modification pro- <br />jects is only suggestive of the probable experience at <br />the HIPLEX sites. The best available information suggests <br />the following: <br /> <br />1. Fifty percent of the days have some rain within the <br />31,000-square-kilometer (12,OOO-mi2) study area. <br /> <br />2. Rain from convective cells averages 200 mm (8 in.) <br />during the 5 suwmer months, or 5,600 metric megatons <br />(6,200 megatons) per season. <br /> <br />3. Ten percent of the days have convergent airflow <br />regimes over the study area, producing from 20 to 60 <br />simultaneous convective rain cells over the region. <br /> <br />4. About 20,000 convective rain cells occur over the <br />study area during the 5-month season. Of these: <br /> <br />a. Five to ten percent are treatable to give at <br />least a 100 percent precipitation increase from <br />the microphysical effects of ice-phase seeding. <br /> <br />1-13 <br />