The Santa Barbara County Cloudseeding Program

The Santa Barbara County Cloudseeding Program

The Santa Barbara County
Cloudseeding Program
& Drought Briefing
Weather Modification Association Conference
April 28, 2016
Fray A. Crease
County of Santa Barbara
Water Agency Manager
Overview
• SBC Water Agency with most water purveyors
• North American Weather Consultants (since 2001)
• Augment rainfall and runoff
•
•
•
•
to local surface reservoirs
Target major reservoirs
Gibraltar Dam, Lake Cachuma,
and Twitchell Reservoir
Usually November – April
Ground and air operations
Most years since 1981
Funding
• Cost shared equally between participating
•
purveyors and the Water Agency
Participants (proportion of production):
Carpinteria Valley Water District
Golden State Water Company
City of Lompoc
Goleta Water District
City of Santa Barbara
Montecito Water District
City of Santa Maria
Santa Ynez River WCD ID #1
City of Solvang
Vandenberg Village CSD
Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District
• Annual Cost FY 2015-16: $395,700
• 6 months ground & 4 months air
Project Area and Ground Site Locations
Project Aircraft
Piper Cheyenne II
Central Coast Jet Center,
Santa Maria Airport
Land Based Generators
Automated High Output
Ground Seeding Systems
(AHOGS)
2 masts
32 flares
spark arrestors
control box
solar panel
Rancho del Cielo site
Suspension/Operational Criteria
• Cachuma Reservoir predicted to spill;
Twitchell Reservoir conservation pool full
• Recent burn areas
• Impacts to urban
areas
• NWS issues Flood
Warning
• Santa Ynez River
Modeled Flow
(10-15K cfs)
Twitchell Reservoir
• Environmental
Compliance
• 5 Year NOI
Cloudseeding Research in SBC
• SANTA BARBARA I, 1957-1960
Randomized ground based silver iodide. Positive effects
but not statistically significant
• SANTA BARBARA II, 1967-1973
PHASE I - Randomized ground based silver iodide of
convection bands. Positive effects, some statistically
significant
PHASE II – Randomized airborne seeding of convection
bands. Positive effects, some statistically significant
Recent Analysis
•
•
•
•
NAWC analysis of the program in 2014
Considered entire seeded seasons from 1981–2012
Journal of Weather Modification (Griffith, et al, 2015)
Conclusions:
Upper Santa Ynez est.
increase 19%-21%
Huasna-Alamo est.
increase 9%
• Next: NAWC feasibility study of Cuyama Valley
Historic Drought
March, 2016
Cachuma Reservoir - November, 2015
Emergency Pumping System
Historic Drought (cont.)
Nearing record low
Historic Drought (cont.)
March 29, 2016
U.S. Drought Monitor, California
Historic Drought (cont.)
Historic Drought (cont.)
2012-2016 on target to be record-breaking driest 5 year period over 1947-51
Questions?
Q: In what country am I?