Desperate to clear toxic haze, Indonesia douses its skies with dry ice

Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. Indonesia scattered it from aircraft because toxic wildfire smoke has blanketed South Sumatra, including Palembang and nearby areas. The trial is an urgent attempt to improve hazardous air during the country’s worst wildfire season in a decade.

Authorities say the dry ice should “break down” haze in the lower atmosphere so the haze can rise upward. The operation is different from cloud seeding, which targets clouds and encourages water vapour to condense into ice crystals and rain. The trial involved 1.5 tons of dry ice.

The method is experimental, so its success was not established in the article. If officials consider the trial successful, they plan to use it in other haze centres, including Central Kalimantan and surrounding areas. Ground crews, helicopters, and cloud-seeding teams are also fighting the fires and their effects.

The dry-ice trial is designed to address haze already sitting in the lower atmosphere. Authorities say dry ice can “break down” that haze and allow it to rise upward. This matters because smoke has made air hazardous across parts of Indonesia and has complicated firefighting by reducing visibility.

Aircraft targeted Palembang and surrounding areas with 1.5 tons of dry ice. Cloud seeding works differently. It disperses substances such as silver iodide inside clouds, speeding up water vapour’s natural condensation and forming ice crystals. The goal is to produce rain that may help suppress fires.

Indonesia and Malaysia have carried out cloud-seeding operations for weeks. New operations were planned in Central Kalimantan, while dry ice remained a trial. If the trial works, Indonesian authorities said they would consider using it in other areas central to the haze.

Indonesia’s wildfire crisis is enormous. More than one million wildfire hotspots have been recorded this year, while almost 900,000 hectares of land have burned. The figures show why smoke has spread across large regions and why authorities are using aircraft, helicopters, cloud seeding, and ground firefighting teams.

The hotspots were reported by Nusantara Atlas, an independent forest monitoring platform. The fires are concentrated in forest and peatland areas, with South Sumatra and Kalimantan among the regions worst affected by haze. Firefighters continue tackling blazes described as out of control.

The scale has also created a cross-border problem. Pollutants have drifted into Singapore and Malaysia, where air-quality scores have reached unhealthy levels. Indonesian police have named more than 200 individuals and nine companies as suspects in connection with the fires, while authorities continue efforts to extinguish flames and reduce the smog’s impact.

Hazardous wildfire smoke affects both health and daily life. Residents in Kalimantan and South Sumatra are bearing the brunt of toxic smog, while air in many cities has turned a dusty amber. Public-health concern has risen as air-quality scores in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore reach unhealthy levels.

The smoke also interferes with emergency work. Helicopters have been deployed to extinguish wildfires, but poor visibility in the haze has sometimes disrupted their operations. That creates a difficult cycle: fires produce smoke, and the smoke makes it harder to reach and suppress the fires.

The article does not list specific illnesses or symptoms caused by the pollution. It does show a broad regional impact, with residents exposed to hazardous air and neighbouring countries affected by drifting pollutants. Authorities are responding with firefighting, cloud seeding, and the experimental dry-ice operation.

The haze spread beyond Indonesia because pollutants from the wildfires drifted across borders. Singapore and Malaysia were affected, and air-quality scores rose to unhealthy levels. The smoke therefore became a regional public-health concern rather than an Indonesian problem alone.

Malaysia responded in particularly hazy areas, including Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru, by conducting cloud-seeding operations. Indonesia also granted Malaysian agencies permission to enter its airspace for cloud seeding along their shared border. These actions show how the pollution crossed national boundaries and required cooperation.

The article does not identify the exact wind patterns or atmospheric conditions carrying the pollutants. It does establish that fires in Indonesian forests and peatlands produced the haze, which then drifted into neighbouring countries. Authorities are combining cloud seeding with firefighting and Indonesia’s dry-ice trial to reduce the regional impact.

The article identifies an unusually strong El Niño as a major factor behind Indonesia’s severe fire season. It exacerbated drought conditions, making the landscape drier and flames harder to put out. That helped produce the country’s most dire wildfire season in a decade.

In practical terms, drought leaves less moisture available to slow or stop burning vegetation. Fires can therefore continue more easily, while firefighters face tougher conditions on the ground. The article links this difficult environment to widespread fires in forests and peatlands and to the toxic haze affecting nearby cities.

The drought has also increased pressure for emergency measures. Authorities have used ground crews, dozens of helicopters, cloud seeding, and an experimental dry-ice trial. The article does not say when conditions will improve, so officials are continuing suppression and haze-mitigation efforts while the fires remain active.

Fires in peatlands can create especially persistent haze because peat is carbon-rich organic soil that can smoulder beneath the surface. That underground burning can continue after flames appear controlled and can release smoke for long periods. This mechanism is established background knowledge; the article itself identifies forests and peatlands as major fire areas.

Land-clearing burns add another source of smoke. The article says agricultural companies use burning as a cheap way to clear large swathes of land. When many fires burn across broad areas during drought, their combined smoke can produce widespread haze and overwhelm firefighting efforts.

Indonesia has recorded more than one million hotspots and almost 900,000 hectares burned. Smoke has affected South Sumatra and Kalimantan, then drifted into Malaysia and Singapore. Authorities are fighting fires, testing dry ice, and using cloud seeding, while police have named individuals and companies as suspects.