Aerial anti-haze operations conducted in North
Aerial anti-haze operations conducted in North
24 March 2013
published by www.nationmultimedia.com
Thailand — With fine-particle dust levels in the air in many upper northern provinces continuing to exceed safe levels, the Northern Royal Rainmaking Centre yesterday dispatched planes to fight haze for a second consecutive day, centre director Song Klinprathum said.
The first operation, conducted on Friday, used the “black hole” technique (spraying urea and dry ice in a counter-clockwise direction in the target area) in order to open up space for dust to ventilate and move away from the affected areas.
Yesterday’s operation was conducted in two targeted areas: above Mae Hong Son’s Mae Sariang district and above Phrae province. In each area, two teams of three aircraft conducted spraying at the same time. In each team, one plane sprayed a “hot formula” while flying clockwise at 8,500 feet, while the other two planes sprayed urea and dry ice while flying counter-clockwise at 7,500 feet to “open the air space”, Song explained.
Rainmaking is not possible at the moment due to many factors. Hence, the centre used the “black hole” technique to alleviate the situation, pending better conditions to conduct rainmaking, he said.
