Earlier today, the Meteorological Department of Malaysia (MET Malaysia), National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA), and Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) have carried out a cloud seeding operation. This was done in order to mitigate the haze that was caused by the open burning in Indonesia which has badly affected the air quality in selected parts of the country including Klang Valley and Kuching.

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This particular operation took place at around 12:30 PM and focused on three states including Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Melaka. Prior to this, all three organizations together with the Labuan Water Department have also embarked on similar operation in Sarawak on 12 September.

According to this handy chart by MET Malaysia, the condition of the atmosphere needs to be analysed first in order to determine the time to perform the cloud seeding operation. The seeding was done using four tanks that contained a mix of salt solution and water.

MET Malaysia pointed out that each tank holds about 200 kg of salt solution which has been poured into 1500 litre of water. All four tanks were carried into the air with RMAF’s Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft that was piloted by Mejar Norlela Harun.

The mixture was then released at a height of around 1500 to 2000 meter from the surface although the release can’t be done at any random spot on the sky though. This is because cloud seeding operation can only be performed at areas that have towering cumulus clouds which apparently have a higher chance of producing rain.

Rain would usually take place around 30 to 60 minutes after the cloud seeding operation have been performed. As for today’s operation, MET Malaysia stated that it has resulted in the rain at Cheras, Bangsar, Petaling, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Langat, Klang, Gombak, Seremban, Tampin, Jelebu, Alor Gajah, and Jasin.

Authorities apparently have aimed to induce rain in even more areas but were facing with air space clearance issue due to busy air traffic condition. With that, if you have been wondering how cloud seeding is performed in Malaysia every time we faced the haze that coming from our neighbour, now you know.

(Source: MET Malaysia – 1, 2 // Royal Malaysian Air Force // Harian Metro.)

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