Make it rain: Indonesia chases clouds to stem El Niño fires
Borneo in Indonesia, home to pristine rainforest and protected species, is burning. Meteorologist Safillah Anggie Wahyuni hopes a solution lies in the clouds.
Indonesia believes cloud seeding can help it tackle a wildfire season that experts say is on track to be among the worst in years, driven by a strong El Niño.
Indonesia's government says more than 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) burned in the first half of the year.
Independent analysis by deforestation monitoring site Nusantara Atlas puts the figure through July at more than 285,000 hectares (704,000 acres)—more than four times the size of Jakarta.
Cloud seeding, which involves sprinkling silver iodide, salts or other particles into clouds to trigger precipitation, is rarely used to tackle wildfires globally.
But Indonesia is ramping up efforts, scarred by 2015 fires during a previous strong El Niño that burned through millions of hectares and created a regional haze crisis.
"Weather modification does not create clouds: we optimize clouds that have the potential to produce rain," Safillah told AFP after flying over Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan on Borneo.
"Weather modification will only be effective if the conditions are right," she added.
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.
A fire burning at a landfill site in Rasau Jaya, Kubu Raya, West Kalimantan.
Personnel from the National Disaster Management Agency loading Sodium Chloride into an aircraft before a cloud seeding mission at Tjilik Riwut Airport in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan.
The gauge at Katulampa floodgate (colored green-blue-yellow-red) is fully visible August 6, 2026, as water levels drop in part due to the impact of El Nino, in Bogor, West Java.