Many significant scientific contributions and discoveries were made during the three decades of research using the sailplane. Some highlights of scientific contributions from the investigations are listed in Table II along with key scientific publications associated with each highlight. 
 

Table II.  Scientific Highlights from Explorer Investigations 

• Established dominance of precipitation formation via the ice process in the high plains 
  Knight, C. A., N. C. Knight, J. E. Dye and V. Toutenhoofd J. Atmos. Sci., 1974 
  Cannon, T. W., J. E. Dye and V. Toutenhoofd J. Atmos. Sci., 1974 
  Dye, J. E., C. A. Knight, V. Toutenhoofd and T. W. Cannon,  J. Atmos. Sci., 1974
• Observations of ice precipitation formation and importance of particle recirculation. 
  Dye, J. E., C. A. Knight, P. N. Johnson, T. W. Cannon and V. Toutenhoofd:  Int. Conf on Cl. Phys., 1976
  Dye, J. E., B. E. Martner and L. J. Miller: J. Atmos. Sci., 1983 
• Measurements of seeding effects and AgI plumes in small cumuli 
  Dye, J. E., G. Langer, V. Toutenhoofd, T. W. Cannon and C. A. Knight:  J. Appl. Meteor., 1976  
• Deduced the existence of adiabatic cores in clouds of the high plains
  Johnson, P. N., A. J. Heymsfield, J. E. Dye, V. Toutenhoofd, J. L. Fink, 1977:    Preprints Tenth Conf. on Severe Local Storms, Omaha, NE, Amer. Meteor, Soc., 120-125.
  Heymsfield, A. J., P. N. Johnson and J. E. Dye, 1978:  J. Atmos. Sci., 35, 1978 
• Showed the relationship between ice nuclei and ice particles in adiabatic cores 
  Heymsfield, A. J., C. A. Knight and J. E. Dye:    J. Atmos. Sci. 1979 
• Observations of the density of graupel in NE Colorado cumuli 
  Heymsfield, A. J.:   J. Atmos. Sci. 1978 
• Established the presence of penetrative downdrafts in clouds. 
  Paluch, I. R.:   J. Atmos. Sci., 1979 
• Cloud model simulations comparing model with sailplane and radar observations 
  Zeigler, C. L., D. R. MacGorman, J. E. Dye, and P. S. Ray:  J. Geophys. Res., 1991 
  International Cloud Modeling Workshop/Conference, July 1985, Irsee Germany, WMO Technical Document WMO/TD No. 139: -- Based on observations of the storm published in Dye et al. 1986, JGR,
• Establishes the dominance of the non-inductive ice collision mechanism of cloud electrification. 
  Dye, J. E., J. J. Jones, W. P. Winn, T. A. Cerni, B. Gardiner, D. Lamb, R. L. Pitter, J. Hallett, and C. P. R. Saunders; J. Geophys.. Res., 1986..  
  Dye, J. E., W. P. Winn, J. J. Jones, and D. W. Breed: J. Geophys. Res., 1989 
  Breed, D. W., and J. E. Dye:  J. Geophys. Res., 1989 
• Measurements of ice particle charge, shape and size  
  Weinheimer, A. J., J. E. Dye, D. W. Breed, M. P. Spowart, J. L. Parrish, T. L. Hoglin, and T. C. Marshall:  
  J. Geophys. Res., 1991