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<br />, <br /> <br />WESTERN KANSAS WEATHER MODIFICATION PROGRAM <br />e-mail: hailman@pld.com ~C"m <br />Internet: http://www.pld.com/users/hailman/master.html <br /> <br />RECEIVED <br />AUG 1 4 1996 <br /> <br />/~ <br /> <br />WEEKLY NEWSLETTER <br />96-17 <br /> <br />// <br />FOR THE PERIOD AUGUST 3 - 9, 1996 <br /> <br />General Interest: Some may recall the CBS Evening News program with <br />Dan Rather a'few weeks ago in which we were the focus of his "Eye <br />on America" se<Jlllent.. In it Mr. Rather stated the u. S. Government. i6 <br />not funding any weather modificat.ion research this year. It smacked <br />of telling the viewer to con~lude that the U. S. Governm'1'!'t eit h,"" <br />takes a dim view of weather modification or repudiates it totally. <br /> <br />Guess What?' An article in the .July issue of the American <br />Meteorological Society Newsletter said the U.S. Government is doina <br />'.weather modification research in Mexico! The project is to run 4 <br />years, from June to, October each year in the state of Coahuila; II <br />st.arted this vear. Logistical support. will include research planes, <br />pilots, a ground-based radar system, computer-related equipment, <br />etc. NCAR, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, is <br />coordinat.ing the,overall research program which includes programs <br />for training and technology t.ransfer, lectures by NCAR scientists, <br />pairing of NCAR scientists with Mexican scientists for the 4 year <br />period, training personnel in radar operation, coordinat.ion of <br />cloud seeding operations, conducting seeding flights and many other <br />things. NCAR is funded by the Nat.ional Science Foundation (NSF) <br />which sets the priorities for research in the USA. NSF gets its <br />funds from t.he U. S. Government which, in t~,1:n, we all know is <br />funded by us taxpayers. <br /> <br />According to the article, the Mexican project. will be centered <br />around seeding with a newly developed seeding formulation used to <br />stimulate rainfall. South African experimentation and research led <br />to the development of a pyrotechnic (flare) burning the <br />formulation. The burning flare vaporizes the formulation into small <br />particles which become cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). CeN are <br />fundamental in building clouds; water vapor first collect on CCN <br />forming small water droplets which continue to grow large enough to <br />be seen as clouds, eventually becoming large enough to produce rain <br />and other forms of precipitation. There is no silver iodide <br />component in the new seeding formulation. Instead, it contains <br />pot.assium chloride, sodium chloride and magnesium oxide. We all <br />know sodium chloride is salt; potassium chloride, also found at <br />grocery stores, is marketed as "sodium-free" salt. However, bot.h <br />are hygroscopic materials having a strong affinity for moisture. At <br />cloud bases, vaporized formulation particles quickly attract wat.er <br />vapor to form large cloud droplets, as do maritime clouds. The <br />water drops grow larger and heavier, event.ually falling out of the <br />cloud producing more rainfall than it would normally. Magnesium <br />oxide in t.he flare is used as the combustion agent which vaporizes <br />the salts making the formulation into cloud condensation nuclei. <br />