Jakarta Braces for Extreme Weather by Relaunching OMC
Reported by Aldi Geri Lumban Tobing | Translated by Maria Inggita
The Jakarta Provincial Government, through the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), is again performing Weather Modification Operation (OMC) in preparation for hydrometeorological disasters.
"The potential for rain cloud growth in Banten, Jakarta, and West Java in general is high,"
This time, OMC will take place for eight days from February 14 to 21, 2025 with an estimation of two sorties flown each day.
This operation is a collaboration between the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the Indonesian Army Air Force (TNI AU), and PT Rekayasa Atmosphere Indonesia (RAI).
BPBD: Weather Modification Effectively Reduces High Rainfall in JakartaBMKG Weather Modification Deputy Supervision, Fikri Nur Muhammad said, in the second dasarian (a period of ten days) of February 2025, there was more than 70 percent cloud growth evenly distributed in the western part of Java, including DKI Jakarta.
“The potential for rain cloud growth in Banten, Jakarta, and West Java in general is high. The predicted air humidity in each layer is quite humid reaching 90 percent,” he informed, Saturday (2/15).
Jakarta BPBD Logistics and Equipment Sub Group Head as well as spokesperson for the implementation of OMC in 2025, Michael Sitanggang conveyed, this step was taken as an attempt to respond to the potential for extreme weather that was predicted to occur during that time period.
He explained that the first day of OMC on February 14, 2025 was carried out with 2 sorties using 1,600 kilograms of food-grade NaCl seeding material.
"The first day's operation mission targeted the seeding target area around Sunda Strait and Northwest Jakarta on sortie 1, while sortie 2 targeted the target area of Southwest Jakarta," he stated.
