13 Aug Clouds to be sprayed for rain
In a bid to prevent a recurrence of last years forest fires that destroyed over 1.6 million hectares of land, the Indonesian government announced that it would deploy ‘artificial rain’ ahead of this year’s peak drought season.
The country’s Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya said that Indonesia’s Meteorology and Climatology Unit as well as its Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology had worked together to develop the artificial rain.
As a result a fleet of planes will induce clouds to shed their water loads by spraying them with chemicals like silver iodide or dry ice.
The minister said he was hoping the plan would avoid a repeat of 2019 when Indonesia’s forest fires emitted nearly twice as much carbon dioxide as the Amozon fires in Brazil creating a toxic haze which led to a spike in respiratory ailments and also forces the closure of airports and schools.