Antara News·Indonesia·Friday, October 16, 2026 at 09:05 AM UTC

Indonesia trials dry ice atmospheric tech to tackle toxic haze

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M. Riezko Bima Elko Prasetyo, Yashinta Difa

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has launched operational trials using dry ice atmospheric modification technology to disperse dense toxic haze and smoke caused by forest fires, officials said Thursday.

"The dry ice seeding method is a specialized atmospheric modification technique designed to reduce pollution concentrations and dense smoke, without requiring the presence of rain clouds," said Berton S.P. Panjaitan, acting head of BNPB's data, information, and communication center.

Unlike traditional weather modification that uses salt granules to induce rainfall from existing cloud formations, the dry ice approach targets smoke layers directly.

The initial trial is underway in South Sumatra, one of six priority provinces severely impacted by peatland and forest fires.

Panjaitan explained that burning land creates an atmospheric inversion layer—a thermal trap where warm air sits above cool air, preventing hazardous smoke particles from dispersing naturally.

Response teams disperse 3-millimeter dry ice granules at -75°C into the lower atmosphere, breaking the boundary layer to force smoke upward and outward.

Operating from Raden Inten II Airport in Lampung, a Cessna Caravan aircraft conducted two sorties at 4,500 feet on Thursday, releasing 1,600 kilograms of dry ice over Palembang's Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport, where poor visibility had threatened air traffic.

BNPB reported immediate results, with ground visibility around the airport widening from 650 meters to 2,800 meters following the operations.

"This series of cloud seeding trials using dry ice is scheduled to continue until October 18, 2026," Panjaitan said.

Following the trial, BNPB will evaluate the operation to determine whether to deploy the technology across other fire-stricken provinces.

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