Right now, Indonesia is dealing with wildfires that are so bad, air pollutant levels are at a 16-year high. In order to combat this on-going natural destruction, the city-state — home to 5.6 million people — will use weather changing technology in order to produce rain and quell the blaze.
Wildfires in Indonesia have significantly raised the air pollutant levels in the area. (Image via)
Specifically, the government will use a technology called “cloud-seeding”. This involves planes and helicopters taking to the skies above the fires—an area known as “Sumatra”— and injecting chemicals into clouds which prompt the formation of heavy ice crystals; this, in turn, speeds up the production of rain.
The Indonesian government is hoping that cloud seeding will help combat the area’s wildfires. (Image via)
There are about 100 firefighters presently battling the fires. They are difficult to put out because they’re smoldering underground in carbon-rich peatland, which is located mostly on palm oil plantations.
The area that has seen the most destruction is Bengkalis district, where 1,600 acres of land has been scorched so far. Also hit hard — Riau, where there are 555 fires going on right now, up from 356 last month.
As far as the aforementioned air pollutant levels, in nearby Singapore, the Pollutant Standards Index measured 172, far past the designated “unhealthy” threshold of 100.
Air pollutant levels in Singapore are approaching record highs. (Image via)
The current blaze is considered Singapore’s worst since September 1997, when the Index topped off at 226.
The government hopes to begin seeding the clouds on Friday.
Story via sky.com
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