The AgI Seeding Cloud Impact Investigation (ASCII) campaign 2012: overview and preliminary results

Authors

  • Bart Geerts University of Wyoming
  • Binod Pokharel University of Wyoming
  • Katja Friedrich
  • Daniel Breed NCAR
  • Roy Rasmussen NCAR
  • Yang Yang University of Wyoming
  • Qun Miao Ningbo University
  • Samuel Haimov University of Wyoming
  • Bruce Boe Weather Modification, Inc.
  • Evan Kalina Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54782/jwm.v45i1.121

Keywords:

glaciogenic cloud seeding, Weather Modification Research

Abstract

The ASCII campaign was conducted in early 2012 over the Sierra Madre, a Continental Divide range in Wyoming, to examine cloud microphysical changes resulting from the ground-based injection of silver iodide (AgI) into shallow orographic clouds. The campaign included a dual-polarization Doppler-On-Wheels radar on the mountain pass, the University of Wyoming King Air aircraft with profiling mm-wave radar and polarization backscatter lidar, two Ka-band profiling radars, one upstream of the AgI generators, and one downstream, and a number of instruments on the ground to characterize the cloud liquid water content and the in situ snow particle characteristics. The experimental design supported both simultaneous (upstream/ downstream) and non-simultaneous (before/ during) comparisons, in order to tease out the impact of glaciogenic seeding on cloud and precipitation. Unfortunately, suitably cold cloud base temperatures rarely occurred during the campaign. Nevertheless, profiling radar data collected on flights with a no-seeding period followed by a seeding period, as well as simultaneous ground-based profiling radar data, indicate that under suitable conditions AgI seeding can significantly increase radar reflectivity in the boundary layer, and thus snowfall rate near the ground.

Author Biography

Bart Geerts, University of Wyoming

Professor
Wyoming Cloud Radar reflectivity Transects

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Published

2013-03-30

How to Cite

Geerts, B., Pokharel, B., Friedrich, K., Breed, D., Rasmussen, R., Yang, Y., Miao, Q., Haimov, S., Boe, B., & Kalina, E. (2013). The AgI Seeding Cloud Impact Investigation (ASCII) campaign 2012: overview and preliminary results. The Journal of Weather Modification, 45(1), 24–43. https://doi.org/10.54782/jwm.v45i1.121

Issue

Vol. 45 No. 1 (2013)

Section

Scientific Papers

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