Antara News · জলবায়ু

Indonesia continues intensive weather modification to tackle fires

২০/১০/২০২৬

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi said efforts to extinguish forest and land fires are continuing through intensive weather modification operations, with a primary focus on four affected provinces.

"We are currently using dry ice to break up the smoke, so that sunlight can penetrate and trigger the formation of rain clouds. After that, we seed them with NaCl. Fortunately, several districts have reported rainfall," Hadi told the press in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He stated that weather modification is ongoing in four provinces, namely South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan.

As of Tuesday, eight sorties have been flown in South Sumatra since Friday (Oct 16), using 1,600 Kg of NaCl and 4,000 Kg of dry ice for cloud seeding.

In addition to the main post in Palembang, operations in South Sumatra are also supported by a post in Lampung to mitigate potential visibility issues in Palembang.

Operations based in Lampung used dry ice over six sorties from October 15 to 18, deploying 4,800 Kg of dry ice. This yielded positive results in South Sumatra, leading to lower PM2.5 levels and improved visibility.

Meanwhile, in Central Kalimantan, 48 sorties have been flown since August 26, 2026, using 43,800 Kg of NaCl. The operations generated a total rainfall volume of 67.45 million cubic meters.

Support operations were also launched from South Kalimantan to aid visibility issues in Central Kalimantan. Starting Sunday (Oct 18), two sorties deployed 800 Kg of dry ice and 800 Kg of NaCl.

Field reports subsequently confirmed rainfall in the districts of East Kotawaringin, West Kotawaringin, Seruyan, Kapuas, Gunung Mas, and East Barito.

In South Kalimantan, operations involving 23 sorties deploying 23,000 Kg of NaCl seeding material have been conducted since October 10, supported by two aircraft.

The total rainfall volume generated throughout the weather modification operations in the province reached 222.67 million cubic meters. Rain was reported across Tabalong, Tapin, and Barito Kuala districts.

In West Kalimantan, 107 sorties deploying 98,800 Kg of NaCl seeding material have been conducted since August 22. The operations generated a cumulative rainfall volume of 471.2 million cubic meters.

On Monday (Oct 19), rainfall was recorded across the districts of Sanggau, Kubu Raya, Sambas, Landak, North Kayong, Bengkayang, Kapuas Hulu, and Ketapang, as well as the cities of Singkawang and Pontianak.

"We are trying as hard as we can, doing everything possible," Hadi said.

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