BMKG Semai Garam In Langit IKN Every Day For The Sacrificial Of Activities

One of the infrastructures that is currently under construction at IKN (ANTARA/M Ghofar)

BALIKPAPAN - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) every day sows salt in the skies of the capital city of the archipelago (IKN) to prevent rain, for the smooth construction to commemoration activities of the 79th Independence Day of the Republic of Indonesia. "Until today, the process of seeding NaCl (garam) substances is still ongoing in a series of weather modification operations (OMC) so as not to rain, because it can hinder activities at IKN," said Head of Class I Meteorological Station Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Sepinggan BMKG Balikpapan Kukuh Ribudiyanto in Balikpapan, Antara, Thursday, August 15. In seeding this salt, cooperation is carried out with related parties, both planes flown from airports in Samarinda and flown from airports in Balikpapan. For salt distribution using aircraft from Samarinda, he continued, cooperation was carried out between BMKG, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), and Smart Aviation, while BMKG and the Indonesian Air Force collaborated from Balikpapan. In this OMC, aircraft from Samarinda can carry out operations between 4-6 times per day, depending on the weather or cloudy which has the potential to cause rain, while OMC from Balikpapan is carried out 2-3 times per day. "The plane for OMC from Samarinda is relatively small with a salt load of about 1 tonne per operation, while the aircraft from Balikpapan is larger with a salt weight transported between 1.5-2 tons per operation. The salt is Sprinkled in the IKN sky," he said. This OMC has been going on since last June and continues until now, especially now that it is approaching the commemoration of the Indonesian Independence Ceremony and the large number of activities at IKN, when the weather is cloudy, of course OMC will be carried out immediately.

Today, he continued, the plane from Samarinda has packed salt three times in the IKN sky. The first salt season was carried out this morning, then at 08.00 WIB and continued during the day, it could even be until the evening due to thick clouds from the sea. "As for planes from Balikpapan to this afternoon, they have not carried out OMC, because they adjust combat training, including the rain in Balikpapan," he said.