The main instrument in this research was an S-band circularly polarized weather radar located at the Red Deer Industrial Airport in central Alberta, Canada.
Project Stormfury was an attempt to weaken tropical cyclones by flying aircraft into them and seeding with silver iodide.
Weather modification via cloud seeding has a long history in perennially dry Southern California.
[1] In 2016, Los Angeles County rebooted its cloud seeding program (with ground-based machines) for the first time after 2002.
That is without counting the ridiculous amount of energy needed to power those pumps and its effects on marine life.