Weather Modification, Joint Team Sows 16,800 Tons Of Salt To Rain In Central Kalimantan

ILLUSTRATION/PHOTO OF DKI BPBD DOK

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government held a weather modification technology operation by sowing 16,800 tons of salt to reduce rain as an effort to reduce the potential for forest and land fires in the Central Kalimantan (Central Kalimantan) region.

The Coordinator of the Weather Modification Technology Laboratory from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Budi Harsoyo said the operation was carried out for the next 24 days to wet peat and increase water reserves that could be used to extinguish fires during forest and land fires.

"We are trying to optimize the potential of existing clouds for weather modification technology operations in Central Kalimantan so that hotspots are not as many as in previous years," Budi said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, August 10.

The operation of the weather modification technology used a CASA aircraft originating from the Squadron 4 of the Indonesian Air Force Abdulrachman Saleh Air Base in Malang, East Java.

El Nino's phenomenon, which is getting stronger with an index of value +1.04, causes relatively dry weather conditions. This condition has the potential to increase the emergence of hotspots as the main source for causing forest and land fires.

Currently, the majority of peatlands in Central Kalimantan are in a vulnerable condition because they have dried up with the water level in the ground already lower than 40 centimeters below the ground level.

Head of the Climate Change Control Center (PPI) of the Kalimantan Region, Yudho Sekti Mustiko, stated that the Forest and Land Fire Control Task Force had found heat deposits in areas that were very difficult for the field team to reach.

According to him, water bombing operations and weather modification technology are an alternative to dealing with and controlling hotspots that eat up forests and peatlands.

"Hopefully the weather modification technology pursued by various parties can produce good results, so that it can increase the level of peat water and can control forest and land fires in Central Kalimantan," said Yudho.