ENVS Real Life

Another File that I already mentioned but found to be extremely interesting and useful is the compilation of files titled Cloud Seeding. There are files for each year from before 2002 to 2007. Currently there still remain small efforts to have private cloud seeding projects in the Valley, but after reading through many of these files, I can see why the concept needs more development to continue in the Valley. 

A good portion of the files that make up this chunk are simple emails discussing cloud seeding activity in the area.  At first glimpse these seem meaningless and excessive because generally they are short and there is A LOT of them in each section. However after getting a chance to read through all these a pattern began to emerge that seemed a bit unsettling.  After each winter storm was seeded, often times there still would not be a drastic change in the amount of snowfall.  Once and a while they would be able to report a couple inches extra, but most of the time they would see no change or the storm would not be acceptable to seed for one reason or another. 

This was also an interesting topic because it is one that I had heard a lot about throughout my time spent in the classroom at Western.  In these folders you can also find very useful articles and designs for how these seeding projects took place.  Again a lot of the designs for the seeding devices looked a little outdated, for instance they use devices that release the silver iodide from the ground rather than current trends that use planes to deliver the dose.  However, it does give an interesting look into how cloud seeding has developed through the years.  Perhaps we can expect to see more new developments to increase the effectiveness of this process. 

Link: http://www.uppergunnisonwaterdocs.com/?page_id=4898