CLOUD SEEDING AND RELATED RESEARCH IN THE USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050054-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 54
• Publication Date: March 11, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23 : CIA-
CLASSIFICATION CO DENrIAL G81Fl9EN'HAI
SECURITY INFORMATION
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1949
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT Scientific - Geophysics, meteorology, cloud
HOW seeding
PUBLISHED Pamphlet
WHERE.
PUBLISHED Leningrad
DATE
PUBLISHED 1949
LANGUAGE Russian
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Razvitiye Meteorolo 11 v SSSR (Development of Meteorology in the USSR),
Gidrometeoizdat, pp 50-52, (IC QC857.R9R9).
CLOUD SEEDING AND RELATED RESEARCH IN THE USSR
ndurther information on the organizations and some of the scientists
mentioned in this report can be found in FDD Summary No 51_7
Up until recently, meteorologists have devoted most of their attention to
the problem of weather forecasts and the use of these forecasts to reduce the
harmful effectF of weather :agarleL. However, the final goal of our study of
atmospheric processes must unquestionably be the solution of the problem of
active influence on nature; i.e., the problem of controlling the weather and
developing methods to combat dangerous atmospheric phenomena. In the light
of our present knowledge of atmospheric processes and the ever-growing tech-
nical and energy resources at our command, this problem is not so hopelessly
insoluble as it might first appear. The successful methods wbioh we already
have for combating the first autumn frosts and the promising experiments in
dispersing clouds and fogs which have been conducted recently are proof of
this fact.
Soviet meteorologists were the first to organize systematic studies of
active influence on the atmosphere, The Rain Institute, which was organized
in 1931 and reorganized in 1934 as the Institute of Experimental Meteorology
5resumably the Leningrad Institute of Experimental MeteorologX7, had as its
asic task the solution of the problem of active influence on the atmosphere.
The first years of the institute were naturally spent on organizational
measures. V. N. Obolenskiy interested some important Soviet scientists in
this field and a number of them came to work at the institute, including Pro-
fessor N. N. Andreyev, V. V. Bazilevich, G. I. Prussakov, and others. But
most of the required personnel had to be trained by the postgraduate fellow-
ship method. Among the scientists who have continued their work in this field
up to the present are B. V. Kiryukhin, P. N. Krasikov, N. V. Kucherov V. L.
Gayevskiy, V. A. Solov'yev, and V. Ya. Nikandrov.
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telfIQEM AI
The first experiments included those on the protection of plants from the
first autumn frosts, and on the dispersal and creation of fogs, as well as pre-
liminary studies of the possibilities of influencing clouds by electrical, chem-
ical, acoustical, mechanical and other methods. For these experimerts and for
laboratory studies, the institute developed new, complex instruments and built
special units, including a powerful Tesla coil to crest ions, a powerful X-ray
installation, and a "fog chamber," in which fogs very similar to natural fogs
could be formed under laboratory conditions. This chamber was used to study
the properties of fogs by subjecting them to various types of physical effects.
The instruments and units were used for studies in cloud microphysics, in which
drop size and number, water content of clouds, and humidity in fogs at low
temperatures were determined.
Many other problems were studied, but emphasis was placed on water-vapor
condensation processes and coagulation of water drops. In the latter field,
the following studies are worthy of special mention: the theoretical general-
izations made by V. N, Obolenskiy, V. V. Bazilevich, and others; the numerous
experimental studies by Professor M. A. Aganin and others on tue establish-
ment of laws for the fusion of drops and the influence of electric charges
upon this fusion; the studies by V. V. Bazilevich on the coagulation of drops
and the influence of ultrasonic oscillations upon coagulation; the work of
V.Ya. Nikandrov on the absorption of ultrasonic oscillations by water vapor;
the work of B. V. Kiryukhin and N. P. Tverskoy on the evaporation of drops,
on the measurement of humidity at low temperatures, etc.
Finally, we note the series of studies of the condensation of water vapor
on hygroscopic substances (creation of artificial fog! and the work of Profes-
sor N. N. Andreyev and Ye. S. Selezneva on the chemical analysis of precipita-
tion and on thL study of condensation nuclei. This work was not limited to
theoretical and laboratory studies, but was also conducted in natural clouds
and fogs. For the latter purpose, well-equipped expeditions were organized
and specially-equipped airplanes were used. The first experiments on throwing
various solid particles and powdered ice into clouds were conducted from spe-
cially equipped airplanes as early as 1940, with the participation of P. Q.
Vorontsov. Unfortunately, these experiments were interrupted by the war. The
experiments on throwing dry ice into clouds which have been conducted abroad
recently and publicized widely in foreign press were conducted in the USSR
before World War II and not without success.
The union of the school of experimental meteorologists with the school
of theoretical meteorologists and workers in other branches of meteorology,
which was brought about by the incorporation of the Institute of Experimental
Meteorology into the Main Geophysical observatory at the beginning of World
War II, had a very beneficial effect and led to the extensive studies now
being conducted at the Main Geophysical Observatory. The union of theory and
experiment has completely justified itself and was a prerequisite for further
progress.
COMFIOENTIAI
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