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Last modified
7/28/2009 2:28:50 PM
Creation date
10/1/2006 2:17:02 PM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
Weather Modification
Applicant
Western Kansas Groundwater Management
Project Name
Cloud Seeding
Date
4/15/1986
Weather Modification - Doc Type
Report
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<br />I. E:,'Kf::mlDUND <br /> <br />Probably the first rain stimulation proposal having any <br />reasonable scientific basis was that made by James P. Espy. In the <br />April SJ 1839 iSSlJe of the National Gazett.e and Litel.ary Register of <br />Philadelphia, Espy proposed that large fires be built to generate <br />updrafts. .~e felt that in a humid atmosphere, cumulus clouds would <br />develop and eventually produce rain. There are no records that <br />indicate the scheme led to any field tl~ials and it was not until the <br />1880's that CI~ngress appropriated $10,000 to conduct some field <br />experiments based on a very old ide8 that "it always rains ~fter a <br />battle". Explosive ctlarges wel.e carried alott by balloons and the <br />tests were followed by optimistic reports. The work of T. 8ergel~on <br />and W. Findeisen in the 1930's developed the concept of supercooled <br />water clouds, crystallization, and of the 1'warm rain'! and llcold rain' <br /> <br />proceSSE"S. <br /> <br />Modern scientific weather modification had its serious beginrlings <br />in the late 1940's at the General Electric Laboratories in <br />SchenectadY1 New York. Dry ice and silver iodide were the strong <br />nucleating agent candidates used by Schaefer, Langmuir, anlj Vonnegut <br />dur'ing these early trials in the laboratory and field. Nucleating <br />8.~Jl?nt.'S"! h8.V\"7! chc\n';Jed lit.tl"t7~ CI\/€~r' t.imE:~ ~l.nd t.hl;? rni:)t.c.'r'i~tls, USiE~'d by WE~st.t?..'r'n <br />Kansas Weather Modification} (WtCWM)! as well as most of the other <br />projects throughout the world, are still silver iodide in various <br />forms and dry ice (C02). <br /> <br />Irl 1972 the Kansas Legislature took a giant and progressive step <br />when it el1acted the Groundwater Management District Act The Act <br />enabled interested groups to form organizations wt1ictl would pl~ovide a <br />means to implement area water conservation progr'amsfor themselves, <br />thus, Western ~(ansas Groundwater Management District Ml (WKGMD #1) <br />became a legal entity of the state of Kansas. <br /> <br />Soon after WKGMD #1 came into being, tt1e district supporters <br />lUl.ned their efforts to tt1e identification of program goals and <br />individual objectives. <br /> <br />One of the primary objectives was to organize and design an <br />operational weather modification program. The cloud seeding pl.ogram <br />was to be implemented in order to help alleviate tt1e ever-increasirlg <br />loss of sub-surface water irl western Kansas. 'fhe decision to <br />implement the program came after a review of res'Jlts from ~CANCUP <br />(Kansas CumullJs Project) and statewide seeding programs in North <br />Dakota and South Dakota. <br /> <br />Wt(GMD #1 desired to purstJe the proposed weather modification <br />program indefinitely, operations COndlJcted dlJring the yearly period <br />that encompasses the plantingl growingl and harvesting of crops. l"t,e <br />objectives were to: (1) ind'Jce additional rainfall by seeding selected <br />clouds in the absence of severe or potentially severe weather! (2) <br />decrease the occurrence of damaging hail by seeding potelltially severe <br />storms, and (3) demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of <br />projects of this type in the western High Plairls states. <br /> <br />, <br />
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