Laboratory and Modeling Studies of Cloud Susceptibility to Hygroscopic Seeding
| Michigan Tech | University of Utah | Weather Modification International | Mesa Photonics |
Can we make it rain? The question is deceptively simple, but like many seemingly simple queries, it has a nuanced answer. Research over the past 70 years shows that we can, in fact, make it rain (or snow). However, that same body of research also shows that the very steps we take to enhance precipitation, might decrease, or worse, prevent it. The complete answer to “Can we make it rain?” isn’t “yes” or “no”; it is, instead, “Maybe.” You must know which clouds will be susceptible to intervention, and you must know which interventions will be effective. We address some of those fundamental questions in order to make operational precipitation enhancement more reliable.
Our primary tools are the Michigan Tech Pi Chamber, a one-of-a-kind facility where we can create and sustain turbulent cloud conditions for hours at a time, and state-of-the-art modeling platforms, which enable us to extend our understanding ofthe experiments in the chamber.
Objectives
Polluted clouds (the droplet number concentration is high and the droplets are small)
1. Understand the response to hygroscopic seeding materials, salt and NaCl-TiO2 in particular.2. Understand the response to dust.
3. Understand the response to hygroscopic flare material, used operationally in cloud seeding efforts.
4. Understand the response to the introduction of charge.
Clouds with moderate droplet concentrations
1. Understand the response to hygroscopic seeding materials, salt and NaCl-TiO2 in particular.2. Understand the response to dust.
3. Understand the response to hygroscopic flare material, used operationally in cloud seeding efforts.
4. Understand the response to the introduction of charge.
