What Weather Modification Needs—A Scientist's View

Abstract

The scientific and technological aspects of weather modification are addressed, emphasizing the need for physical understanding, sequential development, predictor variables and an interdisciplinary approach. The experience of the successful experiments in weather modification such as Climax, Israel and Florida single cumuli have shown the importance of two-phase development, namely, exploratory and confirmatory. A decision ladder to screen out unfavorable cases and/or select between treatments must be optimally based on concepts, numerical simulation and measurement. Cooperation between the academic, government and private sectors in these endeavors will optimize use of people and resources. All these steps together should improve the credibility of weather modification in the scientific community and protect against the present fragility suffered by many operational programs.