Feasibility Study of Cloud Seeding Activities in the Coal Mining of Central Kalimantan

As part of weather modification technology, cloud seeding has been used in several countries for various purposes. In Indonesia, cloud seeding is utilized for rain enhancement and suppression activities. Rain suppression is mainly carried out to reduce the risk of flood disasters due to high-intensity rainfall. Recently, rain suppression has been implemented in coal mining areas to reduce slippery time, which can disrupt coal production. This research aims to explore the weather conditions and the environmental situation in a mining site in central Kalimantan before the application of cloud seeding for rain suppression. The result shows that the study area topography mainly consists of lowlands with a rough topography from 100 to 250 m. Cloud seeding for rain suppression can be done by two methods, first is a competition mechanism using a high volume of small seeding material. The second method is the jumping process, which uses large seeding materials to act as giant cloud condensation nuclei to accelerate rain droplet growth. Convective available potential energy (CAPE) analysis shows that in the afternoon is higher than in the morning, the growth of convective clouds is more dominant in the afternoon. The correlation of monthly rainfall with the monthly Nino 3.4 index shows that ENSO affects rainfall in the target area in the dry and transition seasons from dry to the rainy seasons. This feasibility study can be used to consider the application of weather modification technology in the mining area.