Cloud Seeding Potential Areas From Remote Sensing of Low-Level Cloud

Cloud seeding is carried out to increase the amount of precipitation, which is useful during drought, especially in agricultural areas. However, the success rate of cloud seeding operations in Malaysia was not fully achieved due to location and temporal factors. The cumulus clouds at low elevation levels are practical in cloud seeding operations. Nowadays, low-level clouds’ location can be detected using satellite remote sensing. Therefore, this study aims to determine the potential areas for cloud seeding operations with remotely sensed low-level cloud distribution. The potential areas were retrieved from the low-level cloud distribution of Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) with cloud masking method and single reflective band and mapped with Geographic Information System (GIS) overlay analysis. It was found that the locations were coincidently used in previous cloud seeding operations conducted by the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MET) in 2019 which were above the 0.14 threshold. Thus, the potential areas based on low-level clouds for cloud seeding operations can be detected and mapped using Remote Sensing satellite images. The approach can potentially be utilised by related agencies to identify the appropriate areas for cloud seeding operations practically.