TEMPO.CO, Pontianak – The number of hotspots in Kalimantan since the beginning for the year until August 9 have reached 1,692. “616 hotspots or around 36 percent are in West Kalimantan,” said Artificial Rain Technical Unit head F. Heru Widodo on Tuesday.
The data were obtained from US-owned NOAA018 satellite. Heru said we have to learn from last year when severe forest fires occurred from August to October in West and Central Kalimantan.
Heru said there needs to be weather modification technology (TMC) operations to moisten peatlands and fill water storage to prevent and minimize the number of hotspots.
TMC operation field coordinator Sutrisno said in March-April period and from June until now, TMC operation has been conducted in Riau and since July 9, operation has also been conducted in South Sumatra.
TMC operation in West Kalimantan began in August 11. The main post is located in Supadio Airport, Pontianak. In order to help monitor weather and cloud condition in targetd areas, personnel have been placed in two Meteorology Observation Posts (Posmet) in Sekadau and Teraju.
Sutrisno said the result of weather and cloud observation will be reported by officers from Posmet to the team in Posko. After that, the result will be analyzed and used as input to determine strategies for cloud seeding.