Salt Seeding from Aircraft over Linganamakki Catchment, South India

Authors

  • A. S. Ramachandra Murty Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology
  • A. Mary Selvam Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology
  • C. P. Kulkarni Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology
  • R. N. Chatterje Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology
  • Bh. V. Raman Murty Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54782/jwm.v13i1.49

Abstract

     Acute power shortages because of weak monsoonsin the summersof 1973, 1974, and 1975 led to several cloud seeding operations over hydroelectric catchments throughout India. One of these involved salt seeding of warm cumulus clouds from aircraft over the Linganamakki catchment in southwest India during the summerof 1975, at the request of the Karnataka State Government. Operational details have been given by the Karnataka State Electricity Board (KSEB, 1975). Rainfall measured in the target area and in adjacent control areas (Fig. 1) is used for the present evaluation.
     The project was similar to that conducted in the preceding two years 1300 km to the northeast over the catchment of Rihand reservoir (24 v 12’N, 83 03’ E, 310 m MSL) in the extreme southeast corner of Uttar Pradesh, south of Varanasi (Banaras). A limited number of raingauges in and around the catchment indicated increases on seeded days of 17 to 28 percent, which was not statistically significant (Kapoor eta., 1976).  Despite the strong chance of similar inconclusive results from a non-randomized operational project, the Karnataka authorities requested an operational project, to alleviate a critical water shortage.

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Published

2012-10-14

Issue

Section

Scientific Papers

How to Cite

Salt Seeding from Aircraft over Linganamakki Catchment, South India. (2012). The Journal of Weather Modification, 13(1), 167-173. https://doi.org/10.54782/jwm.v13i1.49