Department of Commerce to conduct a comprehensive program in weather modification, in addition to research directed toward eventual amelioration of severe storms, including hurricanes and tornadoes. The bill also authorizes the development of modification techniques to serve the missions of other agencies: augmentation of precipitation by the Department of Interior; control of lightning and hail by the Department of Agriculture; application of modification techniques to relieve air pollution by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; and dispersal of fog and cloud cover at airports by the Department of Transportation. Further, the bill would assure the continued support by the National Science Foundation of basic and applied research in atmospheric sciences, including those aspects underlying the advancement of weather modification technology. Very importantly, the bill establishes the authority which will insure an orderly development of a coordinated research program which will provide for maximum efficiency. The bill further looks beyond the technological aspects of weather modification, and provides for full consideration of the social, economic, ecologic, and legal problems which could arise both from the conduct of large Federal research programs and from the widespread application of modification technology-studies of these problems to be carried out on an interagency basis. Also the important problems or regulation of weather modification are recognized, with the granting of initial regulatory authority to minimize interference with Federal experiments and the provision for studies of the broader problems of more general regulation.

The bill is responsive to the recommendations of the recent intensive studies of weather modification carried out by the Panel on Weather and Climate Modification of the National Science Foundation. It is also in accord with the recommended plan of attack on weather modification problems contained in the study conducted by Dr. Homer E. Newell for the Federal Council for Science and Technology.

At this point I would like to note that section 401 (d) repeals the authority of NSF with respect to the reporting by private persons of weather modification activities and does not assign this function to any other agency. We believe such authority is essential, and strongly recommend the inclusion in S. 373 of a section similar to section 205 (b) of H.R. 9212, which would authorize the Secretary of Commerce to require such reports.

Senator CANNON. Why do you deem that authority to be essential there? What are some of the reasons?

Dr. BAUM. Mr. Chairman, it's exceedingly important that we have thorough knowledge of what is going on across the country in the way of attempts at atmospheric modification. It's a necessary part of the documentation in terms of analyzing any particular experiment. In the absence of such reporting we could be engaging in experiments which might be contaminated by others going on, and we wouldn't necessarily know that they were actually going on. This reporting procedure precludes that possibility.

S. 2058 is of quite a different nature. It is aimed at a program for augmenting the precipitation over the Upper Colorado River Basin through cloud seeding and other weather modification techniques,

and directs the Secretary of Interior to carry out programs "designed to increase to the extent practicable the annual average supply of water from rainfall and snow fall" in the basin. It also provides for research and study programs to determine the effectiveness of the programs and to develop new and improved modification techniques. The bill would authorize the appropriation of $3 million for each of 3 years, with expenditures divided between research and operations in the ratio of 2 to 1.

Considering first the provisions of S. 373, it is our view that if enacted this bill would provide the logical structure within the Federal Government for the development of the potentialities of weather modification at an optimum pace. The need for such a structure is highlighted by the rapidly expanding efforts of the several interested agencies and the proposals for an even greater level of activity. The national program must be geared to the needs of these agencies; it must in addition be designed to serve the general interests of the Nation, both public and private. Also the future efforts must take into consideration the needs of the entire country, each section of which stands to benefit from the achievement of successful modification technology of one type or another. S. 373 is designed to further these important ends. In addition, it will prevent undesirable duplication of effort and at the same time assure that no serious gaps in the research program will develop. It will accomplish the objectives expressed by President Johnson in transmitting the last annual weather modification report to the Congress:

To develop the full potential of weather modification, we must continue our research and experimentation. We must bring to the effort our best skills and our most advanced technologies. We must better organize our efforts in this area. And we must join with other nations in the search for solutions, for the weather respects no national boundary.

In view of its timeliness, its aim of establishing a rational approach to solving the problems of weather modification, and its responsiveness to the broad needs of formulating a comprehensive national program, I am pleased to affirm the strong support of the Department of Commerce for the enactment of this legislation.

I would now like to discuss briefly the role that we expect that ESSA would play in advancing the realization of weather modification under S. 373. As mentioned, the bill authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to carry out a comprehensive program in this field. We interpret this authorization to include research aimed at explaining the basic physical processes occurring in the atmosphere, knowledge of which is absolutely necessary to the rational development of weather modification potentialities and techniques. Such knowledge will allow us to avoid the "hit or miss" approaches so often attempted in the past, and which have proved costly and unsatisfactory. ESSA's approach will be concerned with the broad spectrum of weather modification potentialities which will be found to occur throughout the Nation. It will emphasize a "systems" approach which will consider the overall effects of weather modification and the recognition that modification techniques will often produce multiple effects, both those primarily intended and secondary effects which may or may not be desired. The accomplishment of these objectives and the pursuit of methods for

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severe storm modification will involve a well-defined research program, which I will outline briefly in a moment.

The broad responsibilities of the Department of Commerce under S. 373 will be met as a vital element of its mission as the leading Federal agency in meteorological science. ESSA is at the forefront in weather prediction and in the gaining of new understanding and insight into weather processes. The bill recognizes the mutual dependence of weather modification, weather forecasting, climatology, and other aspects of atmospheric sciences and meteorological services. ESSA plans to exercise its leadership in the Nation's meteorological field to the fullest advantage in advancing the science of weather modification. This we believe will provide the most efficient use of our Nation's meteorological resources, already great. The close relationship between weather modification and the other aspects of meteorological science and weather services recognized by the bill requires that the efforts and facilities in other areas of meteorology be taken advantage of to the fullest extent. This would include ESSA's satellites, radar networks, research aircraft, ocean and land observations, and meteorological upper-air soundings. Many aspects of the world weather program will directly support the weather modification research effort. These will include the Barbados oceanographic and meteorological experiment, now in the preparatory stage under ESSA leadership, and the forthcoming global atmospheric research program, to be carried out internationally under the Internation Union of Geodesy and Geophysics and the World Meteorological Organization. The full-scale effort already underway to simulate the entire atmosphere and its components using giant computers will permit preliminary modification experiments to be carried out initially in the laboratory. In all of these areas ESSA will continue to play a leading

role.

The need for strong international cooperation in furthering the goals of weather modification is recognized by S. 373, both in the declaration of policy (sec. 101 (b)) and in section 302, which provides that the Secretary of Commerce is authorized to cooperate in any international activities relating to weather modification consistent with the bill, in coordination with the Department of State, and that both Departments shall assure representation at international meetings and conferences. Under these provisions the Department of Commerce will continue its leadership in international meteorological affairs. The Administrator of ESSA is the permanent U.S. representative to the World Meteorological Organization and an elected member of its Executive Committee. In such capacity he already represents the Nation in meteorological matters, including exchanges of information on weather modification. The excellent cooperation now existing within the world meteorological community will provide the background for the extensive further international cooperation envisaged by the bill.

Of particular importance, in our judgment, are the provisions of the bill which direct that the studies of the legal, socioeconomic, and ecological and biological consequences of weather modification shall be carried out by the Secretary of Commerce in coordination with other agencies. We feel that the value of such a joint approach cannot be overemphasized. Preliminary studies of these problems have indi

cated that they are extremely complex and may be more difficult to solve even than the technological aspects of weather modification. Such studies must be carefully planned and coordinated to keep the overall costs within bounds, and to take advantage of the limited manpower resources available. The joint effort specified in S. 373 is, in our opinion, a most valuable step in assuring an efficient approach to the solution of these profound problems.

I would now like to discuss very briefly the present ESSA program in weather modification and the more specific approaches to be taken in the future in accomplishing the objectives of S. 373. The six major areas of weather modification are:

(1) Modification of precipitation characteristics.

(2) Moderation of tropical disturbances and hurricanes. (3) Modification of severe local storms, such as thunderstorms and tornadoes.

(4) Mitigation of hail and lightning.

(5) Modification of climate, both intentional and inadvertent. (6) Exploration of the socioeconomic, legal, and ecological consequences of the various forms of weather modification. The possibilities for increasing, decreasing, redistributing, or altering the timing of rain and snowfall represent the foremost problems in weather modification, and are still far from being firmly established. The utterly conflicting results of many well-executed experiments, both in our own country and abroad, suggest that cloud and precipitation processes are complex and highly variable. A prime objective of the ESSA program will be to resolve these conflicting findings and to establish a firm physical foundation for future tests and applications.

Our current activities include further tests of the successful experiments on semitropical convective clouds previously carried out near Puerto Rico. Again with support from the U.S. Navy and Air Force, we are conducting more extensive experiments in the southern Florida area where better control will be possible.

Another current project is an attempt to bring relief to the Great Lakes area from the severe snowstorms which often paralyze the communities along the southern shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Intensive exploration of these storms over the past several years has suggested that modification of the precipitation patterns should be possible. Preliminary seeding tests are scheduled for the coming fall and winter seasons.

As the weather modification program develops it will be necessary to conduct experiments over all representative regions of the Nation. The program of the Bureau of Reclamation constitutes an excellent attack on the problems in the Western States. We are supporting a design study for a major project in the Northeast. In association with the Department of the Interior we hope to extend the scope of the national effort to the many areas at present unexplored.

The eventual moderation of hurricanes and lesser tropical storms continues to be a major objective of our program. Project Stormfury carried out jointly with the U.S. Navy, with assistance from the U.S. Air Force, involves preliminary seeding experiments to determine if the thermal structure of these storms can be modified so as to reduce their intensity. Paralleling these experiments is a major effort to

gather further data on the structure and dynamics of these storms through continued aircraft reconnaissance, and to develop much more realistic computer models of the storms to permit a fully logical approach to their modification.

Study of the possibilities for modification of thunderstorms, tornadoes, and other severe windstorms, and the attendant hail and lightning, represents a significant part of the ESSA program. Many suggestions for modification of these storms have been made, and have been investigated, but as yet none has proved feasible. Our major approach at present is focused on establishing more fully the structure and dynamics of these storms as a forerunner to developing a rationale for modification. Much of this work is carried out at our National Severe Storms Laboratory at Norman, Okla., and in the upper Great Plains area, in both instances in cooperation with other agencies. Turning now to a much different time and space scale, changes in climate, natural, or deliberately or inadvertently caused by man, seem much less spectacular than other types of weather modification. However, in the longrun such changes could have a much greater impact on our civilization. The causes of the natural variations of the past which, if repeated, could have catastrophic effects, are not fully understood. Studies of these changes are being pursued by paleoclimatologists, and these will provide a framework for further research. Our major effort, however, is on the development of mathematical models of the entire earth's atmosphere which will permit simulation of the world's climate on giant computers. Much progress along this line has been made over the past decade, and, as mentioned, further expansion of the program will be an important aspect of the world weather program. Man's pollution of the atmosphere may be already causing climatic changes on various scales, and these may become serious in the future. ESSA has undertaken a program for monitoring the pollution load in the "clean air" representative of large-scale conditions. Observatories have been in operation at the top of Mauna Loa in Hawaii, and at the South Pole, for a number of years. Additional sites will be added to the network. In association with the Public Health Service pollution is also monitored at many points throughout the Nation. Trends in contaminants are being analyzed, and their effects on climate will be determined through the computer models already mentioned.

The importance of studies in depth of the socioeconomic, legal, and ecologic and biological consequences of weather modification has been stressed earlier. In accordance with the provisions of S. 373, we intend to fully explore these questions. Several studies of the effects of natural weather variations on commerce, industry, and agriculture are underway, and these will provide a background for assessing artificial changes.

A program such as described will of necessity require a wide variety of supporting research. In the interest of brevity I will simply enumerate some of the main aspects to be included:

(1) Studies of the physics and chemistry of precipitation.
(2) Studies of cloud nucleation technology.

(3) Computer modeling on all scales.

(4) Development of measuring technology.

(5) Advancement of experimental design and evaluation.