Laserfiche WebLink
<br /> <br />.' <br /> <br />. . . <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />002H1 <br /> <br />The efforts that are of greatest interest in the Pacific-Southwest <br /> <br /> <br />are those listed under (3) and (4). Specifically, these are the efforts <br /> <br />to increase snowfall in the higher mountains of the Pacific Southwest, <br />to increase rainfall within the mesoscale precipitation bands entering <br />i;he West Coast, and to increase rainfall from convective clouds in the <br />1,1 <br />Southwest. Experiments to decrease hail damage and modify hurricanes are <br />of considerably less interest in the Pacific-Southwest, as is inadvertent <br />weather modification. <br /> <br />At present, water shortages in the Pacific-Southwest are not critical, <br /> <br />but by all estimates they soon will be. For example, most reports indicate <br /> <br />that the Colorado River Basin will experience critical water shortages <br /> <br />within 25 years. Cloud seeding efforts will increase during these 25 <br /> <br />years because of increasing demand on available water supplies. Experi- <br /> <br />mental evidence already lags behind operational cloud seeding programs, <br />and increased demand brought on by approaching shortages may widen this <br />gap. More evidence is needed on both specific and general weather modi- <br />fication efforts before public pressure, rather than scientific know- <br />ledge, dictates weather modification programs. <br /> <br />There are diverse opinions within the professional and scientific <br /> <br /> <br />communities on weather modification in general as well as on specific <br /> <br />weather modification efforts or programs. In the remainder of this pro- <br /> <br /> <br />gress report, we use the phrase "atmospheric scientist involved in weather <br /> <br /> <br />modification," or simply, "atmospheric scientists." These terms refer to <br /> <br />university teacher/scientists who are devoting significant time and <br />efforts in weather modification and attended the NSF Workshop on Weather <br />Modification and Agriculture in Ft. Collins, Colorado, July, 1975. It <br />has been suggested that in our final report, we include position statements <br /> <br />2 <br />