Twelve Years of Cloud Seeding in the Andes of Northern Peru

Abstract

A program of cloud seeding for rain stimulation has been carried on since September 1951, interrupted only by flood periods and the winter dry seasons, on the headwaters of the Rios Moche, Chicama and jequetepeque and adjacent parts of the continental divide between about 7S and 8S, using mainly silver iodide seeding from the ground. The climate is one of winter drought and summer convective rain resulting from complex interactions between the Pacific marine layer and the overlying easterlies. Compared with seasonal averages for twelve seasons before seeding began, twelve seeded seasons indicate a rainfall increase estimated at from 8 to 15 per cent. Conventional tests show significance at about the 2 per cent level but are rendered inconclusive by lack of prescribed experimental design and the fact that practical application is the primary mission of the program with experimental design having been subordinated. Criteria establishing the economic break-even point for continuance of the program are, however, amply exceeded.