Weather And Climate Modification Report Of The Special Commission On National Science Foundation
In pursuing means to modify weather and climate man assumes the character of a force of nature. That state is not at all novel in that man by inadvertent acts has already modified some aspects of weather and climate through urban development, surface changes for agriculture, forest culture and flood control, and altered the composition and thus the radiation balance of the atmosphere through the combustion of fossil fuels. Deliberate alteration of the atmospheric regimen is, however, a new concept. Thus far the brightest hope for deliberate intervention lies in the possibility of altering precipitation rates and dissipating super cooled fog by silver iodide or dry ice seeding. This has caused the prospect of weather and climate modification to be viewed mainly in the light of these techniques and their attendant geographic scales. If it is granted that the possibility of successful use of seeding procedures is a real one, it must also be recognized that it is in the character of modern man that he will press on to develop larger scale measures; some of which are already in the conceptual stages of evolution. For this reason, planning for research in weather and climate modification must be broad enough at its very outset to accommodate future progress toward large scale or manifold activities.
