Doing Something About The Weather

Foundry proudly brings you this issue of the science green report the nation's leading independent Foundry has been a growing part of the Lynchberg Community since 1896 we manufacture quality engineered castings using 2800° Molen iron and automated equipment to shaped intricate Parts chemical and physical analysis form the backbone of lynchburg's quality control program Precision castings are used in a variety of industrial and consumer [Music] products experience technology quality and the foundry's greatest asset people have combined to make Lynchberg Foundry the leader in its field and now the science green report [Music] the science screen report bringing you each month the latest discoveries developments and applications of science engineering and Medicine made to help solve the problems of modern life today growing arid and semiarid regions cover onethird of the earth's land surface while even in vegetated areas water is in short [Music] supply this aircraft is helping to evaluate one answer to the growing Global shortage of freshwater a new cloud seeding system for increasing local rainfall by 50% or more [Music] today scientists of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other groups are seeking reliable ways to increase local rainfall one successful day of Investigation started in this Florida field where a research team is setting up an array of weather monitoring [Music] sensors pilot balloons are released to estimate wind speeds and directions along all Sky camera systems are ready rain gauges are emptied and [Music] prepared and a balloon born instrument package is sent Skyward to sense atmospheric conditions [Music] weather modification research is the concern of farmers and other citizens as well as scientists here the cedar aircraft are being examined by the public while the researchers discuss the program with interested individuals at the Florida laboratory a morning meeting is underway the weather briefing is first a rundown of current conditions which may influence the [Music] experiment meanwhile data from the test zone is fed to a computer which predicts Cloud behavior in order to estimate the effects of the rain making efforts if the Outlook is poor the flights will be cancelled but today's Outlook is excellent this is a go day meanwhile the two rain makinging aircraft are ready for flight the first successful scientific rain making experiment was carried out by Nobel Prize winner Irving Lang in 1946 these tests will be major scientific evidence after 30 years of research that a second technique called Dynamic seeding can reliably increase rainfall the approach involves firing these silver iodide flares into carefully chosen Cloud Towers to stimulate [Music] precipitation within half an hour the two research planes are airborne [Music] at the laboratory radar our images are used to guide the aircraft toward promising Cloud [Music] configurations scientists know that a cloud has a kind of life cycle born when water in the air condenses growing and expanding sometimes producing rain and finally dissipating clouds proceeding to stimulate rainfall uses the fact that the tops of cumulus clouds May hold super cooled water droplets liquid water at temperatures below freezing if the cloud tops are seeded with silver iodide these crystals serve as nuclei for formation of ice from the supercooled water heat is also released which gives buoyancy to the clouds leading to longer life the uper W wly expanding Cloud draws in still more air and moisture and so produces additional rainfall air and moisture continue to rise forming vigorous new Cloud Towers which in turn result in still more rain as neighboring clouds are seated they too grow and may merge with the first further enhancing precipitation High over Florida one of the research planes plunges toward a cloud to start its seating run sensors aboard measure wind direction and wind speed Ice Crystal concentrations and Cloud water content One sensor catches water droplets and Ice Crystal shapes on soft plastic for later [Music] study data on cloud characteristics are displayed by an onboard computer these measurements will be used to determine the suitability of a given cloud formation for seating [Music] in the test zone technicians scan the cloud patterns with Advanced Doppler radar that records wind motion the resulting threedimensional pictures will help scientists analyze changing Cloud configurations to prevent biasing the experiment through choosing clouds by ey the data is analyzed and the target clouds chosen in the ground laboratory and this Choice transmitted to the plane good the choice is made and the release of silver iodide flers [Music] begins fire for 25 years United States electrical power companies have used Dr Lang's Discovery to multiply West Coast snowfalls in order to obtain more water to run their Hydro electric generators in the last 10 years Southwestern Farmers have similarly increased local rainfall in selected areas radar measurements of the test clouds are recorded on magnetic tape for later analysis to determine any effects of seating beyond the test zone studies were also undertaken of satellite images of cloud cover one research aircraft approaches still another Cloud Tower neighboring towers are selected in the hope of inducing merging Fire 2 Fire [Music] [Music] 3 at the same time Cloud physics data is recorded for later analysis wind temperature humidity both instrument and visual checks suggest the clouds are responding to the seating effort [Music] research on increasing precipitation is underway in Many Lands the national research Council of Canada for example is seeking ways to use cloud seaing to produce rain in order to put out forest fires as the seated Cloud grows an alert goes out to to the Rain collection unit though the sky is still clear the field technician heads for the test zone and at last the storm breaks [Music] as part of the rain collection effort rain drop samples are frozen and preserved in dry ice for subsequent study cloud seeding efforts may never stop droughts or eliminate water shortages but they are becoming more reliable ways to multiply crop production and augment Water Supplies in many regions in late afternoon the seating still goes on the test zone has become a place of rain and darkness The Radars continue to track the clouds different colors indicate receding and approaching Cloud movements the screen also shows wind motions within seated and unseated Cloud complexes threedimensional pictures which reveal how well the test subjects develop and organize if these experiments prove its reliability this second basic cloud seating approach will in years to come be added to man's scientific techniques for drawing more rain from the sky when and where he needs it [Music] Lynchberg Foundry has been proud to bring you this issue of the science screen report to further your understanding of Science and engineering medicine and Technology [Applause] [Music]