IPB University Academics Explain the Limits of Weather Modification Effectiveness in Disaster Mitigation
The increase in hydrometeorological disasters in various regions of Indonesia has encouraged the use of weather modification as a solution. Weather modification is often perceived as a shortcut to reducing the impact of floods, landslides, and extreme weather.
Sonni Setiawan, SSi, MSi, a lecturer at the Department of Geophysics and Meteorology at IPB University, stated that weather modification can indeed be one of the efforts to minimise the impact of hydrometeorological disasters. However, he emphasised that this is only a short-term solution and does not address the root of the problem.
“Weather modification is important as a mitigation effort, but it must be emphasised that this is not a permanent solution. It does not address the main causes of hydrometeorological disasters,” said Sonni.
According to him, the effectiveness of weather modification is highly dependent on atmospheric conditions. This technique can only be carried out if clouds with certain characteristics are available.
For example, in cloudy weather conditions, modification is carried out by combining adjacent clouds so that the precipitation or rainfall process can be accelerated.
“If atmospheric conditions are not favourable, weather modification automatically becomes ineffective. So it cannot be forced,” he explained.
Even if weather conditions are favourable, Sonny said that the impact of weather modification is localised and limited to certain areas. This becomes a serious problem when weather modification is applied to a very large area.
“For large areas, weather modification is ineffective. If it is still forced, it will only be a waste of budget or simply a waste of funds,” he said.
Not an Instant Solution
Furthermore, Sonny warned that over-reliance on weather modification risks obscuring the underlying issues that are the main triggers of hydrometeorological disasters, such as changes in land use, damage to river basins, deforestation, and unsustainable environmental management.
“As long as the essence of the problem is not resolved, weather modification will continue to be ineffective. It only treats the symptoms, not the disease,” he said.
He encouraged disaster mitigation policies not to stop at instant solutions, but to be directed towards long-term and systemic approaches based on environmental improvement, careful regional planning, and strengthening community adaptation capacity.
“Weather modification may be carried out, but it must be done proportionally and based on science. We must not allow quick fixes to distract us from the much larger tasks at hand,” Sonni concluded. (AS) (IAAS/LAN)
