October 23rd, 2015

Dear Professor Enos, Rupal, and Jamie,

My sincerest gratitude is given for your wonderful reviews and advice for this
topic memorandum. In writing this memorandum I found I ran into difficulties, which
were corrected by this advice. One of my biggest problems was that I thought I should
change from writing a literature review to a scholarly essay; Rupal suggested this would
be a better idea while Jamie suggested I continue with writing a literature review. I
decided that continuing with a literature review would be the best way to convey my
overall purpose. Rupal also suggested that I should extend my audience to anyone
involved in the meteorological field, but for this assignment I would have to disagree due
to the fact this memorandum called for us to choose a specific audience not just a general
audience. Rupal did make an excellent argument to the fact that I needed to make it
known why the American Meteorological Society is not currently funding weather
modification research. I decided from this advice to add some of the unethical
disadvantages of weather modification so that people would understand why the
American Meteorological Society are not pushing for this topic to be researched. Lastly
Rupal suggested I add what meteorologist are currently using to track hurricanes, though
I do not think this should be added in this memorandum I think it would be needed in the
background for the literature review. Jamie suggested that I add how this literature review
would be received by the American Meteorological Society, which I thought was a great
element to include in my memorandum. Jamie also suggested that it would be important
to add why this paper affects the general public, I also included this into my
memorandum. I am very grateful for all the hard work Rupal and Jamie put into their
reviews and with their added expertise this review has improved from the draft. I hope
you enjoy reading this topic memorandum. Thank you!
Best Wishes,
Martina Merrill

To: American Meteorological Society

From: Martina Merrill
Date: October 14th, 2015
Subject: Weather Modifying Hurricanes
Topic
InunitoneIdiscussedweathermodificationanditsadvantagesand
disadvantages.Weather modification refers to the systematic enhancement of desirable
local and regional weather events, and prevention and weakening of unsuitable weather
conditions without abatement strategies. Some of the reasons weather modification is an
ethical problem is that it could potentially be used for warfare, terrorism, or other
unethical means.Ihavedecidedthatforunittwo,Iwillapproachthistopicby
highlightingthemainadvantageofweathermodification,whichispreventing/diverting
dangerousweatherpatterns,suchashurricanes.Iwillbefocusingonhurricanesin
particularsinceasmallamountofresearchhasbeenconductedonhurricanes.
Genre
AliteraturereviewwillbeusedtopresentthistopicduetothefactIwantto
encouragemoreresearchinthefieldofweathermodification.Ibelievethatbywriting
thisdocumentitwillallowforscientiststolookatweathermodificationandinparticular,
cloudseeing,asaviableoptiontoreducethedestructionandlossoflifethatresultsfrom
hurricanes.
Audience
Theprofessionalaudiencebeingaddressedinthisliteraturereviewisthe
AmericanMeteorologicalSociety,inwhichIwillcallonthemtoincreasetheamountof
researchconductedonweathermodificationwithcloudseedinghurricanesinmore
specifics.IchosetheAmericanMeteorologicalSocietyduetothefacttheyalreadyhave
manyscientificpaperspublishedaboutothercurrentweatherissuessuchasclimate
change,accurateforecasting,andoceanography.TheAmericanMeteorologicalSociety
alsohasalargemembershipwithmembersfromover100countriesand175

corporations,meaningthatiftheyweretoencouragetheresearchofweather
modificationitwouldhavealargereachtoscientistandothercontributorsaroundthe
world.MyplanonhavingtheAmericanMeteorologicalSocietyreadthisliterature
reviewwouldtobetoemailthisliteraturereviewtotheirheaddirectorofpublications,so
thatitcouldbeaddedtotheirwebsitesothattheirmembersandotherscientistcouldread
thispublication.TheAmericanMeteorologicalSocietyisagatewayforscientistwhere
theycanreaddifferentpublicationsandseetheworkcurrentlybeingdoneonatopic.
Certainscientistbelieveweathermodificationmaybeunethicalduetothepotential
harmsitcouldcause,butbyconvincingtheAmericanMeteorologicalSocietythat
weathermodificationcanbeapotentiallifesavingtechniquetheymaybeableto
convinceotherscientistinthefieldthatitisatechniquethatshouldbestudied.
Thesis/Purpose
Thepurposeofthisdocumentistoencouragethesciencecommunity,throughthe
AmericanMeteorologicalSociety,toresearchthesubcategoryofweathermodification,
cloudseeding,tobeusedtolessentheeffectsofhurricanes.Ifeffectivethiswould
eventuallyhelptoimplementweathermodifyingtechniques,whichcouldreducethe
lossesfromhurricanes.
Motive
Whilesomeexperimentationaboutcloudseedinghurricaneshasbeenconducted
inthepast,notmanypeopleknowaboutthistechnologyorhavebeenresearchingit
further.IbelievethatwiththeevidenceIhavefoundthroughmyinvestigationsIcan
convinceorganizationsliketheAmericanMeteorologicalSocietytoconductfurther
researchonthispotentiallifesavingtechnology.Themainmotiveofthisliterature
reviewistopotentiallysavelivesduetotheseverityofhurricanes.
TentativeOutline
Introduction:

Thisparagraphwouldbrieflyintroduceahistoryofweathermodification,cloudseeding,
andtheimpactthathurricaneshaveonapopulation.
BodyParagraphs:
ResearchAnalysis:
InoneofbodyparagraphsIwillshowdatafromtheoneexperimentconductedwhere
researchersmodifiedHurricaneDebbiebycloudseedingin1969.Theseresultswillshow
thatevenwithouttodaysmoderntechnologyscientistwereseeingamajordecreasein
thehurricanesstrength.InanotherbodyparagraphIwillgointodetailsaboutthe
economiclossduetohurricanesandincludinglossinpopulation,increasein
unemployment,anddecreaseinweeklypaychecks.InthethirdbodyparagraphIwilltalk
aboutthedecisionsthatgovernmentshavetomakeaboutcloudseedingandtheoverall
costofdoingso,whichinthelongrunseemstobesmallerthanlettingthehurricanerun
itscourse.Iwillthenshowresearchaboutthechemicalsusedinthistechnologyandtheir
overallimpacttotheenvironmentandsentientbeings.
CallforResearch:
Iwillusetheresearchconductedandanothersourcetodiscusswhymoreresearchmust
bedoneaboutweathermodification.
Conclusion:
IntheconclusionparagraphIwillbrieflysummarizethepointsImadeinthebody
paragraphsandcalltheAmericanMeteorologicalSocietytoactioninpromotingresearch
forweathermodifyinghurricanes.

CurrentSources
Hawkins,F,Harry.(1971).ComparisonofResultsoftheHurricaneDebbie(1969)
ModificationExperimentsWithThoseFromRosenthalsNumericalModel
StimulationExperiments.MonthlyWeatherReview.99:427434.Retrieved
October11th,2015
ThisarticletalksabouttheresultsfromtheUnitedStatesin1969cloudseeding

HurricaneDebbieandthepositiveeffectsithadinreducingwindspeedandoverall
damage.Iwilluseitasanexampleoftheoverallpositiveeffectofcloudseedinganduse
itasadrivingforcetoshowresearchersthatcloudseedinghurricanesseemedtobe
promisingevenwithlessadvancedtechnologiesthatisseentoday.Thiswillshowthat
withtheadvancedtechnologiestodaycloudseedinghurricanesmayprovetobeeven
moreefficient.
Vigdor,Jacob.(2008)TheEconomicAftermathofHurricaneKatrina.
JournalofEconomicPerspectives22:135154RetrievedOctober11th,2015
ThisarticletalksabouttheextremeeconomichitthatoccurredafterHurricane
Katrina.Iwillusedatashowingthepercentofunemployment,lossofpopulation,and
lossofweeklyincome.Thiswillhopefullyshowtheimpactahurricanecanhaveona
societyandshowhowpreventativemeasurescanbecheaperandsavemorelives.

Howard,R.A.,Matheson,J.E.,North,D.W.(1972)TheDecisiontoSeedHurricanes.
Science176:11911202RetrievedOctober14th,2015
Thissourcediscussestheeconomicexpenseofcloudseedingandcomparesitto
expenseswhenahurricaneisnotcloudseeded.Iwouldusethistoshowthattheexpected
economiccostofcloudseedingischeaperthanthedamagesaccumulatedbylettingthe
hurricanerunitscourse.
CardnoEntrix.(2011)GeochemistryandtheImpactsofSilverIodideUseinCloud
Seeding.Report.RetrievedOctober11th,2015
Thissourcediscussestheimpactofsilveriodide,oneofthemostcommonlyused
chemicalsincloudseeding.Thisgoesintotheeffectsofsilveriodideontheenvironment
andsentientbeings.Iwillusedthistotalkabouthowthoughsilveriodidedoesnotseem

toharmtheenvironmentsandsentientbeingsinsmalldosesitshouldberesearchedmore
andalternativemeanstocloudseedingshouldbelookedinto.
Questions/Concerns
AfterfindingmyfivearticlesIamworriedthataliteraturereviewmaynot
actuallybetheproperdocumenttowriteforthistopic.Iamstillstrugglingwhatmay
conveythismessageinthebestwaypossible.Ithinktheotheroptionthatwouldsuitthis
topicwouldbeascholarlyessay,whichwouldchangetheopinionofcurrentresearchers
andshowingthemhowcloudseedingisactuallyhelpfulinsituationslikeextreme
weatherconditions.

http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/099/mwr-099-05-0427.pdf
http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.22.4.135
http://www.warnernorth.net/hurricanes.pdf
http://www.weathermodification.org/enviro&techdocs/Entrixreport.pdf