Design of HIPLEX-1: A Randomized Rain Augmentation Experiment on Summer Cumulus Congestus Clouds on the Montana High Plains

摘要

This design plan describes the hypotheses, the experimental procedures, and the evaluation techniques for HIPLEX-1: A randomized rain augmentation experiment on summer cumulus congestus clouds on the Montana high plains. It also describes the equally important parallel studies of the economic, environmental, and sociopolitical aspects of the program. The experiment is focused on cumulus congestus clouds and explores the hypothesis that both the probability and amount of rainfall will be increased by means of ice-embryo seeding for microphysical effects.