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Last modified
7/28/2009 2:28:06 PM
Creation date
10/1/2006 2:14:14 PM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
Weather Modification
Contract/Permit #
#95-5
Applicant
Western Kansas Groundwater
Project Name
Kansas Weather Modification
Date
1/1/1995
Weather Modification - Doc Type
Report
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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />1 <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />,I <br /> <br />Under some conditions rainfall augmentation over large areas <br />can be produced by seeding atop the leading edge of a gust front. <br />Updrafts found there have wide variability---from a very weak to <br />1000 - 1500 feet per minute, or more. Usually when this particular <br />condition occurs at night and there is no threat of hail developing <br />from new storm growth, seeding to increase rainfall is highly <br />productive over large areas. <br /> <br />There is one other form of cloud system that appears to have <br />important seeding potential to produce precipitation in Kansas: the <br />multiple celled convective system. This starts as a cluster of <br />small, weak air-mass clouds developing over a relatively small <br />area---typically about 10 - 30 miles in diameter. If one, or more, <br />of the clouds can grow sufficiently to merge with another they tend <br />to continue growing; the added growth allows the merged clouds to <br />continue capturing other nearby smaller clouds thereby increasing <br />in size and intensity. After seeding,'such systems are capable of <br />eventually producing precipitation over large areas and persist <br />longer than would normal storms. Updrafts initially found within <br />such clusters of cells are often embedded or difficult to locate, <br />however, once the system grows to sufficient size, updrafts <br />generally organize better and become easier to seed. This type of <br />system has responded positively to cloud seeding in the past <br />producing abundant rainfall over several hundred square miles. <br /> <br />Most important research on the dynamics of the multiple celled <br />convective system was done in Texas. However, earlier radar <br />studies between 1972 and 1974 of Western Kansas clouds done by , <br />former KSU Professor and State Climatologist, L. Dean Bark, .. <br />found Western Kansas to be a breeding ground for these smaller cell <br />clusters. Comparisons of data seem to suggest Western Kansas may <br />be even better than the area in which the Texas experiment was <br />successfully conducted. Many years ago scant attention would have <br />been paid to those weak-appearing multiple-celled cloud clusters <br />until one grew much larger and/or appeared on radar. However, <br />these smaller, visibly developing cluster of clouds frequently, and <br />quickly, become "first echoes" on radar and are strongly correlated <br />to severe storm development. If these cloud clusters don't grow <br />quickly into severe storms and they are able to be seeded early <br />enough, they become important targets of opportunity to increase <br />rainfall. In the past spectacular rainfall increases appear to have <br />occurred in many such instances. <br /> <br />12 <br />
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