Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) used 2.4 tons of dry ice in a two-day weather modification operation on Oct. 15-16 to combat forest fire haze in South Sumatra, an agency official said on Saturday.
Berton Panjaitan, acting head of BNPB's Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center, said the operation followed flight disruptions at Palembang's Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport and health effects from dense haze.
BNPB aircraft flew three sorties totaling seven hours and three minutes, departing from Raden Inten II Airport in Bandar Lampung, Lampung Province.
The morning sortie seeded 800 kilograms of dry ice around Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport in Palembang.
Data from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) showed visibility improved from 1,000 meters at 1 p.m. to between 1,500 and 2,000 meters several hours later.
Berton said dry ice seeding is designed to disrupt the inversion layer, in which warmer air sits above cooler air, and weaken its stability.
Breaking up that layer is expected to help disperse smoke trapped near the surface and improve visibility, he said.
After the second and third sorties, visibility stabilized at 2,800 meters, then rose to 3,000 meters and held until 8:30 p.m.
The improved conditions are believed to support safer, smoother flight operations in the region.
Berton said further evaluation and research are needed to assess the effectiveness of dry ice seeding and its contribution to better visibility compared with other meteorological factors.
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Translator: M. Riezko Bima, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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