Jakarta’s Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) is coordinating with several parties to apply the weather modification technique (TMC) to mitigate hydrometeorological disasters in the province at the end of the year.
The Jakarta BPBD is coordinating with the Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU), the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), as well as the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).
The coordination is an attempt to be prepared for the potential for extreme weather, which has been predicted for the period from December 25, 2022, to January 1, 2023, by the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Executive Chief of Jakarta BPBD Isnawa Adji said in a statement released on Wednesday.
“According to the results of coordination with the TNI AU and BRIN, there will be two patterns of implementing the TMC. First, by ‘jumping process’ or preventing rain clouds from entering the Jakarta area, thus it will only fall as drizzle (in Jakarta),” he said.
The second one is the competition pattern, namely burning salt as cloud-seeding material and disrupting cloud growth by adding a condensation core.
The Jakarta BPBD executive chief informed that the implementation of TMC will only be effective if it is conducted from morning until around 5 p.m. Western Indonesia Standard Time (WIB) and the results will show 4 to 15 hours later.
“In principle, the Jakarta provincial government has been ready and prepared to face potential threats of hydrometeorological disasters ahead of the new year,” he said.
The TMC process will involve several aircraft and pilots from the Air Wing 1 of Squadron 2 of the TNI AU, which are based at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base, East Jakarta.
The aircraft that will be used are NC-212, Cassa, and Hercules, which can carry 800 kilograms, 2.4 tons, and 5 tons, respectively, of cloud-seeding materials.
Earlier, the BMKG released information on the potential for extreme weather in a number of regions in Indonesia from December 28–30, 2022, which may cause hydrometeorological disasters, such as flooding, flash floods, and landslides.
According to the BMKG’s impact-based forecast (IBF), the regions include the provinces of Banten, West Java, Jakarta, Central Java, East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, and East Nusa Tenggara.
Source: Antara News