Weather Modification In Jakarta Ends, DKI Provincial Government Still Monitors The Potential For Extreme Weather

Illustration of weather modifications

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government has carried out weather modification operations (OMC) for the last ten days since March 11, 2025, to reduce the impact of high rainfall in Jakarta.

With the end of phase 3 of OMC in 2023, it is hoped that the impact of extreme weather in the DKI Jakarta area and its surroundings can be minimized. The DKI Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) is also concerned about monitoring the potential for extreme weather in Jakarta.

"We will continue to monitor weather conditions and preparedness in the face of potential significant weather changes in the future," said Head of the DKI Jakarta BPBD Logistics and Equipment Subgroup Michael Sitanggang in his statement, Friday, March 21.

In the last day of OMC implementation, OMC was carried out as many as 2 meanings. The first sorti greeted NaCl in the Pandeglang Regency and the southern waters of Ujung Kulon for 2 hours and 10 minutes. Meanwhile, the second sorti targeted the southern waters of Banten and the southern waters of Lampung for 1 hour 55 minutes.

"The total implementation of OMC lasts as much as 25 terms with a total flight time of 51 hours 5 minutes using higroscopic Semai materials of 20 tons," explained Michael.

Plt. Director of BMKG Weather Modification Governance, Budi Harsoyo said, currently the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) phenomenon was detected in the 3rd quadran with the MJO spatial passing through western Java.

"In addition, the negative Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) anomaly and the presence of the Asian monsoon still contribute to increasing the growth of rain clouds in this region," said Budi.

Wind patterns in the operating area were blowing from the West to the Northwest with speeds ranging from 5 to 25 knots. In addition, a convergence and convergence zone was detected in the Java Sea to the north coast of western Java, which could support the formation of rain clouds and increase the intensity of rainfall in the affected areas.

This year, the DKI Provincial Government has carried out two stages of weather modification operations to anticipate the potential for extreme weather, namely in early February and mid-February 2025.

In the third phase this time, the weather modification was carried out with 25 flight sorties. The budget disbursed for OMC this time reached IDR 3 billion.

In the third stage, the operation for 10 days was carried out with 20,000 kilograms of material for NaCl. The flight uses the 212 casa plane belonging to the Squadron 4 of the Indonesian Air Force along with the pilot and support crew.