OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 17 



Mr. Oliver. So that, it would be your position th.it funds expended 

 in this type of an effort are really an investment so far as the possi- 

 bilities are concerned rather than a cost to the taxpayers. The 

 benefits that might accrue from your studies and observations and 

 what not could far exceed what the actual amount of dollars expended 

 would be? 



Mr. Reichelderfer. This certainly is true. If the funds are 

 invested in well thought out, well defined research and experimental 

 programs, I am sure that, whether weather control came out of them 

 or not, the improvements in weather forecasting benefits would far 

 exceed the investment. 



Mr. Oliver. Is there any indication of what the Soviet's efforts 

 along these lines may be in terms of what we are doing? 



Mr. Reichelderfer. Yes. We have enjoyed, we have had rather 

 close contacts in meteorology. We have to stick together in meteor- 

 ology because we are so dependent on each other. 



Even durmg the cold war, we continued to receive reports 4 times 

 a day from 400 different Soviet weather stations scattered over Euro- 

 pean Russia and Siberia. 



Quite a number of years ago, I visited meteorological centers in 

 Russia. They are very active and they are doing some excellent work. 

 We know that at one stage they carried on rather extensive experi- 

 ments in weather control in cloud modification, cloud seedmg, and the 

 experiments were classified. They have declassified them now and the 

 indications are that their conclusions are about as ours are; namely, 

 that there are a great many basic and fundamental research studies to 

 be made before we can mtelligently know how to attack the problem 

 of weather control. 



I am very sure that in their forecasting organization the Soviets are 

 not ahead of us. I think in some of then- research facilities they are. 

 They have been using manned balloons more extensively than we have. 



Mr. Oliver. Would you be in a position to state whether or not 

 Soviet activity in this field is greater than ours? 



Mr. Reichelderfer. In actual volume it is greater. They have a 

 larger service because they have many, many more stations; they have 

 more territory. I doubt if the total research funds that they are 

 putting into meteorology exceeds ours. 



If you take the Air Force, Nav.y, Weather Bureau, and all agencies 

 concerned, we probably are putting as much, perhaps more into 

 meteorological research than the Soviets at the present time. 



Mr. Oliver. Would you say that they are using more ships than 

 we are? 



Mr. Reichelderfer. Yes; they are. 



Mr. Oliver. Thank you very much. 



Mr. Miller. I was going to say. Doctor, that coming from the 

 West and being old enough to remember devastathig floods in Cali- 

 fornia, 50 or 60 years ago were you to tell people that you could control 

 these floods, you could control floods in the Mississippi Valley, the}^ 

 would say that this is pure fiction because they did not know too much 

 where they came from. 



The fact that a dam in Montana could have its effect in New Orleans 

 •could not be conceived. This has been done. It has been done eco- 

 nomically and to the benefit of the country. It is part of the develop- 

 ment of the West. 



