Bangkok Air Pollution

[JimShorts]

14 hours ago, kekalot said:

yeah it's not always smoke.. in fact if you have a meter and you cook at home the meter should go up quite a bit..

mine went up when the lady downstairs (I live on the fourth floor) cooks spicy stuff with oil.

My meter skyrockets when cooking smokey foods like stir fry. It also skyrockets near BBQ street vendors. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

It looks like today is going to be one of the worst air pollution days in BKK since the current smog spell began a week or so back.  Breathe lightly out there. Lots of high readings / red color around town.

 

[lopburi3]

This is exit time for long holiday so hopefully will be better tomorrow with very few vehicles on the road.

[SoilSpoil]

1 hour ago, lopburi3 said:

This is exit time for long holiday so hopefully will be better tomorrow with very few vehicles on the road.

Vehicles are just a small part of the problem The hundreds of agricultural fires north of the city and corresponding wind direction are the main problem.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Interesting... Because the AQI readings in BKK were high again today, I finally got out my Filtrete sheets and covered about 90% of my bedroom air con's original filters with the Filtrete material. While also continuing to run my bedroom's HEPA air purifier on high.

 

Comparing my bedroom's PM2.5 reading just before installing the Filtrete sheets and AFTER, in this current environment, adding the Filtrete sheets has done nothing to lower the PM2.5 levels in my bedroom today, even after having been on my air con filters for 1+ hour. The level was about 10 mcg before the Filtrete sheet and has remained in that same range after adding the Filtrete sheets.

 

They did have an impact last time I tried them a year ago at a time when the PM2.5 levels were much lower (and I had just purchased a new HEPA purifier for my bedroom). I think in that period, I covered ALL of my air con's filter surfaces with Filtrete. But right now, with the current high PM2.5 levels outside, the Filtrete material with say 90% coverage doesn't seem to be helping. I'm surprised, as I would have expected at least some difference/improvement.

[balo]

Terrible terrible, I have flashing red on my SNDWAY gadget,  outside on my balcony I have 145 or 197 AQI as maximum .  Pattaya area. 

 

I have measured now for the last 2 hours between 80 to 145 (163-197 AQI) . This is a really bad day , take care out there. 

 

 

 

  

 

 

[balo]

BTW inside in my room it's also too high , around 50. 

[mommysboy]

5 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

It looks like today is going to be one of the worst air pollution days in BKK since the current smog spell began a week or so back.  Breathe lightly out there. Lots of high readings / red color around town.

 

 

Must be a lot of people cooking today????

[mommysboy]

3 hours ago, SoilSpoil said:

Vehicles are just a small part of the problem The hundreds of agricultural fires north of the city and corresponding wind direction are the main problem.

Disagree partly- Bangkok air pollution is also city generated- traffic playing a significant part.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 hours ago, mommysboy said:

Disagree partly- Bangkok air pollution is also city generated- traffic playing a significant part.

 

I'm not sure that's really the case in terms of "significant part." Because, when I regularly look at the hour to hour air pollution readings for BKK, they don't regularly track with higher levels in the rush hour periods, or even higher levels during the broader early morning into evening periods, and then better levels overnight. Nor are weekends necessarily better and weekdays automatically worse.

 

Vehicles certainly contribute. But in terms of the big picture, I'm more inclined to believe it's a combination of prevailing weather conditions at any given time combined with the seasonal burning activities and agriculture that studies have documented as by far the largest source of PM2.5 pollution in Thailand.

 

The pollution levels in BKK for PM2.5 are really a very seasonal phenomenon, with the peak period EVERY year being roughly from December through April, with the highest periods often in Jan-Feb.  The rest of the year, typically, not so bad. And that too doesn't fit well with a model that has vehicle emissions as the major contributor.

 

 

http://berkeleyearth.lbl.gov/air-quality/local/Thailand/Bangkok/Bangkok

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Regarding the sources for PM2.5 air pollution in Thailand, here's the chart I was looking for from a Greenpeace report a couple years ago that pretty clearly shows agricultural burning as by far the major source.

 

 

Vehicles here are a much larger source of nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide air pollution. But even in Bangkok, those pollutant levels aren't as severe / dangerous as the PM2.5 levels.

[mommysboy]

On 12/28/2018 at 11:45 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I'm not sure that's really the case in terms of "significant part." Because, when I regularly look at the hour to hour air pollution readings for BKK, they don't regularly track with higher levels in the rush hour periods, or even higher levels during the broader early morning into evening periods, and then better levels overnight. Nor are weekends necessarily better and weekdays automatically worse.

 

Vehicles certainly contribute. But in terms of the big picture, I'm more inclined to believe it's a combination of prevailing weather conditions at any given time combined with the seasonal burning activities and agriculture that studies have documented as by far the largest source of PM2.5 pollution in Thailand.

 

The pollution levels in BKK for PM2.5 are really a very seasonal phenomenon, with the peak period EVERY year being roughly from December through April, with the highest periods often in Jan-Feb.  The rest of the year, typically, not so bad. And that too doesn't fit well with a model that has vehicle emissions as the major contributor.

 

 

http://berkeleyearth.lbl.gov/air-quality/local/Thailand/Bangkok/Bangkok

 

It's a noted feature that major cities have significantly higher air pollution than smaller towns or rural areas, and this can't just be unfortunate siting. I agree when Bangkok gets hit badly then it is nearly always from outside factors, but even without these it regularly averages 70, 80, or higher.

[SoilSpoil]

Farmers having a New Year break, Bangkok better air.

[lopburi3]

Actually the whole city had good rain last night - there is almost no traffic and few fires.  And still not a green report in the city; excluding the misplaced Loei report.

[seb2015]

Vehicles are just a small part of the problem The hundreds of agricultural fires north of the city and corresponding wind direction are the main problem.

Any source of information on this ?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

21 minutes ago, seb2015 said:

Any source of information on this ?

[lopburi3]

4 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

One point to take into account:  that is it is for all of Thailand - obviously burning has a much greater effect in Chiang Mai/Rai (most other areas of Thailand) than in Bangkok.  Yes some will blow into Bangkok but winds are often from areas with no burning (sea).

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

52 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

One point to take into account:  that is it is for all of Thailand - obviously burning has a much greater effect in Chiang Mai/Rai (most other areas of Thailand) than in Bangkok.  Yes some will blow into Bangkok but winds are often from areas with no burning (sea).

 

That's true, it's a chart of national estimates, not only ones specific to BKK.

 

However, as I noted above, I've monitored the hourly PM2.5 levels for BKK on a regular basis over a long period of time, and the rises and falls of those don't show any particular correlation to rush hour periods or weekday vs weekend periods, Nor does the huge seasonal rise in BKK air pollution in Jan-Feb. each year correspond to anything other than weather patterns and seasonal burning from wherever. So I'm inclined to believe the national chart is at least broadly reflective of BKK as well.

 

 

[JimShorts]

On 12/30/2018 at 11:27 AM, lopburi3 said:

One point to take into account:  that is it is for all of Thailand - obviously burning has a much greater effect in Chiang Mai/Rai (most other areas of Thailand) than in Bangkok.  Yes some will blow into Bangkok but winds are often from areas with no burning (sea).

Smoke from fire (burning) can travel heavy and far. This summer in the USA, there were really bad forest fires up in Canada that traveled all the way down to Mexico. In Portland Oregon, which is about the same distance from the source of the fire, as Bangkok is from Chaing Mai, the air was was around 170 for a couple weeks (usually it is around 10). 

Edited January 3, 2019 by JimShorts

[JimShorts]

Over the weekend, the air was actually very decent, by Bangkok standards. Not sure why, maybe less traffic and less construction due to New Years? Favorable winds? Something else?

 

I took a screenshot of the AirVisualEarth app, I have never seen anything like is before, where Bangkok is green and the rest of Thailand is yellow to red. 

Edited January 3, 2019 by JimShorts

[lopburi3]

12 minutes ago, JimShorts said:

This summer in the USA, there were really bad forest fires up in Canada that traveled all the way down to Mexico.

Actually the fires I recall were in California and some of the worst ever.  

[JimShorts]

1 hour ago, lopburi3 said:

Actually the fires I recall were in California and some of the worst ever.  

California had really bad fires this year as well, however those happened in November. During this time the opposite happened and the smoke from California traveled all the way up to Canada. 

 

In August, Vancouver BC had the worst fires on record. 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/state-emergency-bc-wildfires-1.4803546

 

The point being, smoke can travel heavy and far. 

Edited January 3, 2019 by JimShorts

[lopburi3]

6 minutes ago, JimShorts said:

The point being, smoke can travel heavy and far. 

No argument on that - but normally it is the Indonesia forest clearing smoke that covers both Malaysia and Thailand.

[balo]

After a few days with very good air here in Pattaya , today it's going in the wrong direction again . 

 

AQI measured today from my balcony : 130-150  

 

 

[seb2015]

Same in Bangkok.
6PM and suddenly everything goes to the roof ..

[edwardandtubs]

It's definitely the agricultural burning. What else could account for the high pm2.5 on a Sunday night? 

 

I went on a day trip to Ayutthaya on New Year's Day and the smoke and ash was coming into the train, even in the evening. Those fires are burning day and night.

 

It's surprising the media don't report this aspect of the problem.

Edited January 6, 2019 by edwardandtubs

[SoilSpoil]

7 hours ago, edwardandtubs said:

It's definitely the agricultural burning. What else could account for the high pm2.5 on a Sunday night? 

 

I went on a day trip to Ayutthaya on New Year's Day and the smoke and ash was coming into the train, even in the evening. Those fires are burning day and night.

 

It's surprising the media don't report this aspect of the problem.

Correct, the smog is coming from our neighbour Cambodia this time, according to Firms and Windy. Rayong and Chantaburi are also in the 'red'. The farmers in the Central planes seem calm at the moment.

[lopburi3]

Indeed most of northern Cambodia has been a fire zone for weeks and winds often come from there and much more so this week due storm down South.

 

But vehicle use was very high this past week with people returning from holiday and no rain to clear anything.  

Edited January 7, 2019 by lopburi3

[uhuh]

So an air purifier gets the air in my room clean in 20 minutes or so. 

How long until the air gets dirty again?

Do you leave the air purifier running all night when you sleep?

If yes, at which speed?

 

BTW Power Mall has Hatari AP12 for 4888, they give you a free additional filter. (They say,  replacement filters for 888 baht are usually on stock.)

Maybe sold out at branches in Siam and Emporium, Ngamwongwan probably still has stock

[lopburi3]

22 minutes ago, uhuh said:

So an air purifier gets the air in my room clean in 20 minutes or so. 

How long until the air gets dirty again?

Do you leave the air purifier running all night when you sleep?

If yes, at which speed?

 

BTW Power Mall has Hatari AP12 for 4888, they give you a free additional filter. (They say,  replacement filters for 888 baht are usually on stock.)

Maybe sold out at branches in Siam and Emporium, Ngamwongwan probably still has stock

Have my AP12 on 24 hours a day at lower speed even when windows open for air change - clean outside/filter when dirty and change at six months.  Lazada normally has filter available.