Make it rain: Indonesia chases clouds to stem El Nino fires

Indonesia carried out 252 cloud-seeding operations between 2021 and August this year – up from 85 in the preceding decade, according to the BMKG weather agency.

Most tried to draw rain away from flooded areas, but many sought to douse wildfires or wet flammable peatlands.

In just three years since her first cloud-seeding operation, 25-year-old Safillah has accumulated more than 300 flight hours.

The technique was first used in Indonesia in 1977 to top up a dam, and the government has said dozens of helicopters and fixed-wing planes are on standby for cloud seeding nationwide.

“We are on alert to changes in weather, even the slightest, which could result in rain clouds,” Security Minister Djamari Chaniago said.

“NO CLOUDS”

But the bulk of the country’s firefighting is still done on the ground, with nearly 50,000 firefighters currently deployed.

And experts question the technique’s use during the dry season, when wildfires peak.

“Its effectiveness will be very low because of the lack of clouds,” said I Putu Santikayasa, a hydroclimatology lecturer at IPB University south of the capital Jakarta.

Research suggests the efficacy of cloud seeding is hard to assess.

It has also raised questions about harms linked to widespread use of silver iodide, as well as the cost.

Cloud seeding is “a mitigation effort, not a permanent solution,” acknowledged BMKG weather modification director Budi Harsoyo, insisting there is no evidence of harms.