Laserfiche WebLink
<br />1 <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />1. BACKGROUND <br /> <br />Probably the first rain stimulation proposal reasonably based upon science was by James P. <br />Espy. In the April 5, 1839 issue of the Naiional Gazette and Literary Register of Philadelphia, <br />Espy proposed building large fires to generate updrafts. He reasoned that in a humid atmosphere <br />cumulus clouds would eventually develop and produce rain. There are no records indicating the <br />scheme led to any field trials, but in the 1880's Congress did appropriate $10,000 to conduct some <br />field experiments based on an old, widely-held idea that "it always rains after a battle". Afterward, <br />tests were performed with explosive charges carried aloft in balloons and optimistic reports <br />followed. In the 1930s work done by Tor Bergeron and W. Findeisen led to the concept that <br />clouds may contain both supercooled water and ice crystals. This led further to the concepts of <br />"warm rain" and "cold rain" (See Section II). <br /> <br />Modem scientific cloud modification had its serious beginnings in the late 1940s in the <br />General Electric Laboratories at Schenectady, New York. There the scientists, Drs. Schaefer, <br />Langmuir and V onnegut, used dry ice and silver iodide as ice nucleating agents during in these <br />early laboratory and field trial. The ice nucleating agents for cloud seeding have changed with <br />time, Most seeding agents in use today to suppress hail continue to use formulations with silver <br />iodide as one of their components or dry ice. . <br /> <br />In 1972 the Kansas Legislature took a giant, progressive step forward when it enacted the <br />Groundwater Management District Act, an act enabling interested groups to organize and <br />implement area water conservation programs for themselves. Western Kansas Groundwater <br />Management District #1 (WKGMD #1) thus became a legal entity of the State of Kansas. <br /> <br />As WKGMD#1 supporters began identifYing program goals and specific objectives, an <br />early objective was to organize, design and implement a perennial weather modification program <br />to seed convective clouds to increase rainfall to help alleviate sub-surface water losses in Western <br />Kansas. A decision to implement such a program came after a thorough review of results from the <br />Kansas Cumulus Project (KANCUP) research program and state-sponsored seeding programs <br />being conducted in North and South Dakota. Hail suppression was a natural fit as an objective <br />since known results showed rainfall increases resulting from seeding to reduce hail. <br /> <br />WKGMD #1 envisioned its program covering a large area in Western Kansas operating <br />during the period crops were being planted, grown and harvested. Program objectives were to: <br /> <br />(1) increase areal rainfall by seeding selected clouds in the absence of severe or potentially <br />severe weather <br /> <br />(2) decrease the occurrence of crop-damaging hail by seeding potentially severe storms <br /> <br />(3) demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of projects of this type in the Western <br />High Plains states <br />