Introduction
Bernard
Vonnegut
Atmospheric Sciences Research Center
State University of New York at Albany
Most people I talk to are surprised to learn how little
scientists know about thunderstorms. Experts don't really understand the complicated
motions of the updrafts and down-drafts, how rain and hail form, or the various
processes that are responsible for generating the electrical energy that causes
lightning.
It is easy to understand why people assume everything
is known about thunderstorms. They have captured man's attention from earliest
times, and were among the first natural phenomena that early scientific pioneers,
such as Lucretius, Franklin, and Lomonosov, attempted to explain. One might suppose
that by now, after several hundred years, we would have answered most of the fascinating
questions thunderstorms pose, but we have not.
How little we know about thunderstorms is even more surprising
in view of the important role they play in our lives. The winds, hail, lightning,
floods, and tornadoes that thunderclouds produce can threaten us, take many lives,
and cause great damage. But even more importantly, thunderclouds are beneficial.
They provide most of the water that is required to grow the world's food. It is,
therefore, not only to satisfy our curiosity, but very much in our own interest
that we strive to learn how they work.
Thunderstorms have proven remarkably resistant to scientific
investigation. In contrast to many phenomena that are continuously or predictably
available for study, the occurrence of thunderstorms is highly variable in space
and time. A great deal of skill and luck is required just to be in the right place
at the right time to make observations. But being there is only the beginning;
it is extraordinarily difficult and often dangerous to make measurements within
or near an active storm with its violent turbulence, lightning, and hail.
Now, with modern technology, tools are becoming available
that will enable scientists to secure the information necessary to understand
the various processes taking place in the clouds. Among the leaders in thunderstorm
research, nationally and internationally, are the scientists at the New Mexico
Institute of Mining and Technology. It is fortunate that the twenty-fifth anniversary
of Langmuir Laboratory has provided the occasion to recognize the achievements
of this group.
Joe Chew, his collaborators, and their mentor
Jim Corey are to be congratulated for providing an accurate and detailed record
of the establishment of this facility and the steady stream of important contributions
that have come from the scientists working there. Storms above the Desert
will be an important chapter in the scientific history of thunderstorm investigation.
At the same time it will provide nonspecialized readers with new insights into
how the fascinating human endeavor we call scientific research comes about.
This account is particularly interesting to us because
it tells much about the origins of Langmuir Laboratory that I had not known before
and concerns close personal friends responsible for organizing and carrying out
the unique and unusually productive research conducted there. I count myself as
exceedingly fortunate that my interests in cloud seeding and atmospheric electricity
have brought about my long and close association with the scientists at New Mexico
Tech and Langmuir Laboratory.
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