Jakarta: Indonesia is testing an experimental method using dry ice to disperse toxic wildfire haze as severe forest and peatland fires continue to worsen air quality across the country and neighbouring parts of Southeast Asia.
An aircraft is scheduled to scatter 1.5 tonnes of dry ice, or solid carbon dioxide, over South Sumatra. Authorities hope the trial will help break up haze in the lower atmosphere and allow it to rise, according to coordinating minister for political and security affairs Dudung Abdurachman.
“If this trial is successful, we will continue with other areas that are central to the haze, such as Central Kalimantan and its surroundings,” Abdurachman stated.
The experiment differs from cloud seeding, which authorities in Indonesia and neighbouring Malaysia have used in recent weeks to encourage rainfall. Cloud seeding involves dispersing substances such as silver iodide into suitable clouds to promote the formation of ice crystals and precipitation.
Indonesia is experiencing its worst wildfire season in more than a decade, with unusually strong El Niño conditions intensifying drought and making fires harder to control. More than 1.06 million wildfire hotspots had been recorded by October 14, while nearly 896,000 hectares of land had burned by the end of August, according to independent monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas.
President Prabowo Subianto has ordered government agencies to intensify firefighting and reduce the impact of the smoke. Additional cloud seeding operations are planned in Central Kalimantan, while firefighters continue battling blazes on the ground. Helicopters have also been deployed to tackle the fires, although thick haze has sometimes reduced visibility and disrupted operations.
The pollution has affected communities across Kalimantan and South Sumatra, with smoke drifting into neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore. Deteriorating air quality has raised public health concerns, while authorities in affected areas have introduced measures to limit exposure.
The fires have also intensified scrutiny of land-clearing practices. Agricultural businesses have faced criticism over the use of burning to clear vegetation, while Indonesian police have named more than 200 individuals and nine companies as suspects in connection with the fires. Authorities hope the dry ice experiment will provide additional relief, although the scale of its effectiveness remains to be established.
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