Dry Ice Trials Target Toxic Haze Over South Sumatra
Indonesia is scattering 1.5 tons of solid carbon dioxide above South Sumatra province in an experimental attempt to break down choking wildfire smog in the lower atmosphere. As an unusually strong El Niño exacerbates drought conditions across the region, the trial uses dry ice to force haze particles to rise upward rather than interacting with clouds to trigger rain.
The operation marks a distinct shift from standard weather modification techniques like cloud seeding. While authorities in Indonesia and Malaysia have spent weeks dispersing compounds such as silver iodide to form ice crystals in water vapor, Dudung Abdurachman, the coordinating minister for political and security affairs, stated that the dry ice is meant to break down the dense haze in the lower atmosphere so that it can rise upward. If the trial succeeds, operations will expand to Central Kalimantan and surrounding areas.
The escalation follows a severe fire season. Independent forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas recorded more than one million wildfire hotspots in Indonesia this year, with blazes burning almost 900,000 hectares of land. Toxic smog has turned air quality in cities across Kalimantan and South Sumatra to a dusty amber.
Pollutants have drifted across international borders to Singapore and Malaysia, pushing air quality to unhealthy levels and prompting local authorities in Malaysia to conduct their own cloud seeding operations.
Police and environmental investigations target agricultural companies accused of using fire as a cheap land-clearing method. The Police Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) named nine individuals as corporate suspects in ongoing forest and land fire investigations as of October 13, according to ANTARA News. Police Commissioner Pipit Subiyanto stated that investigators received 98 corporate fire reports handled across 10 regional police offices, with West Kalimantan recording 33 reports and South Sumatra logging 17. Separate investigations into individual perpetrators yielded 223 suspects from 273 reports.
Regional fallout continues to grow as the Indonesian government refuses to declare the prolonged fires a national disaster, drawing criticism from activists. Greenpeace forest campaigner Belgis Habiba told The Jakarta Post that the scale of the crisis warrants a national disaster declaration due to the government’s failure to prevent fires despite El Niño warnings. Activists in Pontianak also filed a class-action lawsuit against President Prabowo and the government, alleging negligence and demanding state coverage for citizens’ medical expenses as medical practitioners report treating patients for severe asthma attacks and respiratory distress.
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