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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />understanding of intentional and inadvertent weather modification. But, we argue <br />that the coordinated national program should also support exploratory and <br />confirmatory field studies of in weather modification. It should capitalize on <br />operational cloud seeding programs, and use them as a basis for testing models, and <br />developing new statistical methods for the evaluating the efficacy of those operations. <br /> <br />. We support the NRC conclusion that a coordinated research program should <br />capitalize on new remote and in situ observational tools to carry out exploratory and <br />confirmatory experiments in a variety of cloud and storm systems <br /> <br />. The BASC 2001 workshop report recommended that a "Watershed Experiment" be <br />conducted in the mountainous West using all of the available technology and <br />equipment that can be brought to bear on a particular region which is water short and <br />politically visible from a water resource management perspective. We strongly <br />support this earlier recommendation that was not in the NRC report. Such a <br />"Watershed Experiment" should be fully randomized and well equipped, and be <br />conducted in the region of the mountainous West of the U.S. where enhanced <br />precipitation will benefit substantial segments of the community, including enhancing <br />water supplies in over-subscribed major water basins, urban areas, and Native <br />American communities, for ranching and farming operations, and for recreation. This <br />research should include "chain-of-events" investigations using airborne and remote <br />sensing technologies, along with trace chemistry analysis of snowfall from the target <br />area. Model simulations should be used to determine optimum positioning and times <br />of operation for ground-based and aircraft seeding. The work should include <br />evaluations of precipitation, run-off, and recharge of ground water aquifers. Also, it <br />should include environmental impact studies including water quality, hazard <br />evaluations such as avalanches, stream flow standards and protection of endangered <br />species. Research is also recommended on seeding chemical formulations to improve <br />efficiencies and on improving technology used in seeding aerosol delivery systems. <br /> <br /> <br />. We recommend the application of existing and newly developed numerical models <br />that explicitly predict transport and dispersion of cloud seeding agents and activation <br />of cloud condensation nuclei, giant cloud condensation nuclei, and ice nuclei, as well <br />as condensation/evaporation and collection processes in detail, to the simulation of <br />modification of clouds. We concur with the need to improve and refine models of <br />cloud processes, but existing models can be used as a first step to examine, for <br />example, the possible physical responses to hygroscopic seeding that occur several <br />hours following the cessation of seeding. In addition, existing models can be used to <br />replicate the transport and dispersion of ground-based and aircraft-released seeding <br />agents and the cloud and precipitation responses to those seeding materials in winter <br />orographic clouds. Existing models can also simulate static and dynamic seeding <br />concepts for fields of supercooled convective clouds. Moreover, existing models can <br />be used to improve the efficiency of the operation of weather modification research <br />projects and operational programs, and be deployed in the assessment of those <br />programs. <br /> <br />36 <br />