Previous studies under the frame work of the
Israeli rain enhancement program have
shown that the typical air mass that is
associated with rain clouds in Israel form in
polluted air mass downwind of Europe
(Lahav and Rosenfeld, 2000), which crosses
the East Mediterranean in winter storms,
which add to it sea spray at quantities that
depend on the wind velocity. The air ingests
additional local air pollution with its further
transport inland. Newer observations have
shown that when giant salt CCN are
ingested into clouds in polluted air they
restore the precipitation (Rosenfeld et. al.,
2002). The most common source of these
aerosols is sea spray, especially during high
wind conditions.
Based on those observations, preliminary
results of cloud physics measurements
using a new method of cloud seeding were
done during the winter periods of years 1999
and 2002 as part of the research program of
the Israeli Rain Enhancement Project. We
experimented with dispersion of fine spray of
brine from the Dead Sea under cloud base.
Based on data gathered during 6 research
flights with a collaborating brine seeding
aircraft we are able to report some
outstanding results.