Operational Cloud Seeding Projects in the Western United States

Kriege, Daniel F.; ,

Operational Cloud Seeding Projects in the Western United States

by Daniel F. Kriege, Manager; Operations and Maintenance, Santa Clara Valley Water District, 5750 Almaden Expressway, San Jose, Calif. 95118,

American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, NY
978-0-87262-413-9 (ISBN-13) | 0-87262-413-7 (ISBN-10), 1984, Soft Cover, Pg. 61

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Conference information: A Session, ASCE National Convention | San Francisco, California, United States | October 2, 1984

Out of Print: Not available at ASCE Bookstore.

Document Type: Book - Proceedings

Abstract:

The physical concepts of weather modification were developed and tested in the mid 1940's by Vincent Schafer and Bernard Vonnegut. Since that time, many projects have come and gone. Some were based on less than scientific concepts and others had strong scientific basis. The Federal Government has supported the continued research in the field of weather modification which has tended to better many projects. There are still those in the scientific community that believe more knowledge of cloud physics, nucleating agents, plume tracing, evaluation techniques and many other aspects of weather modification is needed. However, there are many projects today that have been operating for a number of years that have demonstrated that expertise and knowledge is available today to successfully operate a precipitation increasing project. This publication introduces several successful operational precipitation enhancing projects from Utah to California. The several methods currently used to evaluate weather modification projects are described. Finally, the reader is provided a Cookbook Recipe to cloud seeding. This is not to leave the impression that anyone can design and operate a successful project, an expert is needed to do that. But, at least some of the mystique of operating weather modification programs is revealed.

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