How effective is Dry Ice Containing Karhutla Smoke? This is a BRIN explanation

The National Catastrophe Agency uses dry-ice or dry ice-feeding methods to reduce smoke from forest fires and land. So, how effective is this method?

The National Research and Innovation Agency explained that the technology is now being tested and evaluated to see how far dry ice can affect the stability of atmospheric layers that impedes smoke and clouds.

In origin, the thickness of the smoke caused by Karhutla is not only influenced by the size of the forest fire, but also the atmosphere that keeps the smoke close to the surface of the Earth.

Main Engineering Center Limnological Research and Air BRIN Florentinus Heru Widodo explain, the atmosphere conditions in the affected areas of karhutla are now facing a challenge for weather modification.

According to him, under normal atmospheric conditions, the air temperature generally decreases as the altitude increases. These conditions allow warm air near the surface to move up through the conference process and support cloud growth.

However, when it comes to temperature inversion, there are warmer layers of air above colder air. This layer inhibits vertical movement of the air so that the cloud growth becomes more difficult and the smoke is potentially accumulated near the surface.

"This layer of inversion can be considered a cover that blocks the air from moving upwards. As a result, the smoke from the fire is difficult to spread vertically and increasingly concentrated near the surface. At the same time, stable atmospheric conditions are also impeding the growth of rain clouds," clearly Heru, rambling BrIN's official page.

Therefore, the BNPB and related agencies are now beginning to try to use the dry ice screening method.

In contrast to the shedding of clouds that aim to increase the chance of downloading clouds that meet the requirements, the use of dry ice in this context is directed to test the possibility of thermal change in the version layer.

It explains, dry ice has temperatures of about minus 78.5 degrees Celsius. When released into the atmosphere, the material is subliminal, which is the change from a dense phase to a gas, while absorbing heat from its surroundings.

Conceptually, the local cooling is expected to affect temperature and air density differences, trigger local air movements, and increase the probability of vertical air mixing.

This local cooling is expected to affect the temperature discrepancy and air density, triggering local air movements, and increasing the possibility of vertical air mixing.

If those changes are large enough and the atmosphere conditions support, the inversion layer is potentially weakened, so the air can move freer and the growth of clouds has a chance to evolve.

"The use of dry ice is expected to cause local cooling and affect air stability in the inversion layer. However, this mechanism is still a scientific hypothesis. We have to test whether the generated changes are really enough to weaken the inversion and support cloud growth," clearly Heru.

It reminds me that the inversion layer can have extensive coverage and different levels of stability. Therefore, temperature disorder at a location is not necessarily enough to change the atmosphere's overall state.

According to him, the success of this dry ice method is inconclusive based only on the estimate of the cooling mechanism, but it needs to be proven through observation and analysis of atmospheric data.

In order to support that operation, BRIN can do analysis based on atmospheric surveillance data collected by operations and BMKG agencies.

The measurement can utilize radiosonde data, which is an instrument of atmospheric observation that gives information about temperature, moisture and meteorological parameters at various heights.

Not only that, the temperature surveillance data during the flight can also be used to identify the layers where the inversion occurs and estimate its thickness. The observations before, during, and after exposure need to be systematically done so that any changes in air conditions can be documented and compared.

He emphasized that that approach was important because the effectiveness of the weather modification technology was deeply affected by the atmospheric conditions at the time of surgery.