“Indonesia is repurposing a weather-modification technique pioneered in the 1940s in its latest attempt to combat thick haze from forest fires that’s disrupted flights and forced schools to close across parts of Southeast Asia.

Aircraft will disperse pellets of dry ice above South Sumatra province in an experimental approach that authorities hope will reduce the hazardous smoke that’s blanketed the region for weeks, disrupting economic activity and damaging public health.

The first trial is expected on Thursday, Tri Handoko Seto, deputy for weather modification at Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, told Bloomberg News. The aircraft will initially target provincial capital Palembang and an adjacent district, state news agency Antara quoted local governor Herman Deru as saying…

The use of dry ice, or solid carbon dioxide, in weather modification dates to 1946, when American researcher Vincent Schaefer discovered it could induce ice formation in clouds. The US military experimented with dropping crushed dry ice into a hurricane in 1947, the same year that Australian scientists also used the method to induce rainfall.

In Indonesia’s case, the technique aims to break up atmospheric temperature inversions that trap cooler air and wildfire smoke near the ground. In theory, as the dry ice rapidly cools the surrounding air, the inversion will be disrupted and pollution should be able to disperse, said Budi Harsoyo, director of weather-modification operations at the meteorological agency.”

From Bloomberg.