PARC - Program for the Augmentation of Rain in Coahuila , 1996 - 1998

The Program for the Augmentation of Rainfall in Coahuila (PARC) was proposed as a four–year program consisting of a randomized seeding experiment, physical studies, and collaboration with and training of Mexican scientists and students. The overall objective of PARC was to develop, test, implement, and transfer the technology of hygroscopic seeding in Coahuila. The first step in achieving this broad objective was to characterize the development of convection and precipitation in central Coahuila, and compare them to storm characteristics in other regions where cloud seeding has been successfully evaluated. In particular, the measurements taken during the first–year field project (PARC–96) were compared with those taken in South Africa, where seeding with newly developed hygroscopic flares has met with some success. During the summers of 1997 and 1998, the field project focused on a randomized seeding experiment as well as continuing to collect meteorological data for further evaluation of the randomized experiment and other physical studies. The PARC program was planned for four years and the fourth year would probably have provided a sufficient number of cases. However, due to funding problems the fourth year of the experiment could not be completed. Therefore, caution should be exercised in interpreting the results as unambiguous proof of success. This series consists of aircraft video and coumentation. The series is arranged according to the date reflected on the original labeling (for example, 970724 is July 24, 1997). This information is taken from a note accompanying the tapes.