Indonesia boosts cloud seeding to counter drought and wildfires
“Weather modification operations are currently underway to mitigate forest and land fires in several locations, such as Pekanbaru, where operations began today, and Palangkaraya, where they are also ongoing,” he said.
He added that similar operations had previously been completed in Aceh Province and South Sumatra as part of emergency response efforts.
Seto explained that weather modification operations, which involve seeding existing rain clouds with substances such as salt, or sodium chloride (NaCl), are not intended to create new clouds.
Instead, they are designed to maximize the rainfall potential of existing clouds, generating millions of cubic meters of water to help suppress or prevent forest and land fires.
In addition to forest and land fire mitigation, the agency is using weather modification operations to replenish lakes and reservoirs in water catchment areas, including Lake Toba in North Sumatra and Lake Poso in Central Sulawesi, to help maintain clean water supplies for local communities.
BMKG, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Works and the Indonesian Air Force, has recently deployed CASA 212 aircraft from Air Squadron 4 to support these operations, including in the Citarum River Basin in West Java.
“The deployment of personnel, aircraft, and cloud-seeding materials was carried out swiftly following the issuance of operational support by the TNI (Indonesian National Armed Forces) Commander to help maintain reliable water supplies in strategic reservoirs across West Java,” Seto said.
He affirmed BMKG’s readiness to strengthen the country’s weather modification ecosystem by working closely with the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Forestry, regional governments, the TNI, and the National Police to mitigate the socio-economic impacts of the 2026 dry season.
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Translator: M. Riezko Bima, Resinta Sulistiyandari