A synoptic snapshot in this study is made for the East Cape Eddy (ECE) basedon the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) P14C Hydrographic Section and Shipboard ADCPvelocity vector data collected in September 1992. The ECE is an anticyclonic eddy, barotropicallystructured and centered at 33.64°S and 176.21°E, with warm and salinous-cored subsurface water.The radius of the eddy is of the order O (110 km) and the maximum circumferential velocity is O (40cm s^(-1)); as a result, the relative vorticity is estimated to be O (7 x 10^(-6)s^(-1)). Due to theexistence of the ECE, the mixed layer north of New Zealand becomes deeper, reaching a depth of 300m in the austral winter. The ECE plays an important role in the formation and distribution of theSubtropical Mode Water (STMW) over a considerable area in the South Pacific.
Rapid and significant advances in issues relevant to weather modification have been made in the last decade in China due to high water resource stresses and severe weather hazards induced by climate change. This paper reported some progress in aspects of theoretical modeling, field experiment and cloud-seeding tools, as well as research projects regarding weather modification during the ten years from 1997 to 2007. More advanced theoretical models such as cloud models with bin-microphysics and glaciogenic and hygroscopic seeding processes, and mesoscale cloud-resolving models with AgI-seeding processes have been developed to study seeding-induced changes of cloud structure and precipitation as well as to understand critical issues in association with weather modification. More advanced cloud-seeding tools such as mobile ground-based launching system of AgI-rockets and aircraft-based AgI-flares have been developed and used in operation. Several important projects aimed at exploring weather modification techniques and their applications have been conducted during this period.
