Smoke, Smog, Dust 2012 Chiang Mai

[chiangmaiexpat]

My recommendation: Research the 3M product catalogue on their website (Google... 3M ... half-face respirators) the shop have 6000 series and 7000 series half-face respirators plus filters.

I believe these are the reusable rubber type masks? Not very attractive, but efficient. The reusable masks has replaceable filters that must be purchased extra. Make sure to get the correct filters for particulate matter. They are probably just as expensive as the masks themselves. The "right" filter for particulate matter is N100 for P100 respectively (see NIOS standards definition). N95 does not provide adequate protection. Alternatively, you can buy disposable N100 filter masks. Sometimes you can find them at building supplies stores.

Masks are a bit of a nuisance, though. If you mostly stay indoors, you can use an air purifier with a HEPA filter (see HEPA standards definition). Standard HEPA air purifier devices have a particulate matter retention rate of > 99.97% for particles > 0.3 microns. This technology was developed for applications in the aerospace, pharmaceutical, and health care sectors and are now widely available for household use. I've just bought one of these machines, and I can highly recommend it. The symptoms my family and I have suffered earlier (headaches, nausea, eye irritation, heavy breathing) have all ceased since we use the air purifier device. Worth every Baht of its 20k price tag.

Cheers, CMX

[jaideeguy]

IMHO....the smog situation we are experiencing in the north is barely less than 1% of local origin as evidenced by the fire map and my personal observations in traveling the north during 'the season'. A while ago I read an article that stated that the 'haze' is continental and not just confined to CM/Thailand and it's a big cloud that covers the whole of SE Asia from China to the southern coasts of SE Asia. Sure the local bruning has some effect, but from the maps, it appears that Burma and China have the most fires.

Another factor is that CM is a huge valley and the smog seems to settle in the valleys with little wind to blow it away at this time of the year. I've also noticed that this smog cloud does seem to disapate at 1,000mtrs elevation. Drive up to Doi Angkhan and you'll be looking down at the smog below and up at blue skies above....

Bitch all you want at the local burners, but it will still remain even if they stop burning.

[chiangmaiexpat]

And besides, you can't drink beer and smoke cigarettes while wearing them.

If you must asphalt the path to your lungs, you could stick a few cigarettes into the sockets where the filters are usually inserted.

Cheers, CMX

[chiang mai]

IMHO....the smog situation we are experiencing in the north is barely less than 1% of local origin as evidenced by the fire map and my personal observations in traveling the north during 'the season'. A while ago I read an article that stated that the 'haze' is continental and not just confined to CM/Thailand and it's a big cloud that covers the whole of SE Asia from China to the southern coasts of SE Asia. Sure the local bruning has some effect, but from the maps, it appears that Burma and China have the most fires.

Another factor is that CM is a huge valley and the smog seems to settle in the valleys with little wind to blow it away at this time of the year. I've also noticed that this smog cloud does seem to disapate at 1,000mtrs elevation. Drive up to Doi Angkhan and you'll be looking down at the smog below and up at blue skies above....

Bitch all you want at the local burners, but it will still remain even if they stop burning.

I agree and have said the same things since 2007 although I think the 1% is a tad low..

[puck2]

@jaideeguy - #332

That is a “contradictio per se“. How can smoke come from other SE Asia countries over the mountains, when there is no smoke below Doi Angkhang‘s summit, higher than 1.930 m?

Maybe the smoke arrives through a tunnel?

You believe in “barely less than 1% of local origin”, whereas the officials blame the neighbours in a typical Thai stile for ~ 25% .

If your and the official version would be true, then there is another miracle of Thailand. On the Burmese frontier the wind is blowing the pollution from the West into Thailand, on the frontier with Laos (and China behind it) from the North and on the frontier with Laos (VN and Cambodia too) from the East into the Kingdom. Crazy wind directions in Thailand, aren‘t they?

Still other ideas.

- It is obvious that the pollution starts exactly at the same day when you, I and all folks see the fires on the hills and mountains around us.

- Thailand neighbours can file the same claim: Thailand with it’s numerous fires pollutes our country. In different words, pollution caused in Thailand leaves Thailand, doesn’t go down in CM and doesn't appear in Thai statistics as well.

Of course, there is no doubt pollution/emissions can go up high in the air and fly big distances as proven by the Chernobyl atomic crash. But when he black ashes of burnt leaves go down on (2= two!) CM measurements stations these are ashes made in Thailand and not in Myanmar, China, Laos or VN.

[chiangmaiexpat]

How do the "foreign origin" theoreticians, including PCD director-general Wicharn Simachaya, explain the evidence from satellite images (and in fact everyone who cares to look down from a plane) that suggests that the fires are quite evenly spread accross Southeast Asia?

Cheers, CMX

[chiang mai]

How do the "foreign origin" theoreticians, including PCD director-general Wicharn Simachaya, explain the evidence from satellite images (and in fact everyone who cares to look down from a plane) that suggests that the fires are quite evenly spread accross Southeast Asia?

Cheers, CMX

If what you say were true then all of Thailand would be suffering the same levels of pollution (or near enough) but this is not the case, it's just in the North.

[chiangmaiexpat]

...but this is not the case, it's just in the North.

Yes, because of the topography of Northern Thailand. The fires are everywhere, but the smoke is carried away from the central plains and coastal areas more easily. Here in the north it get's trapped in the valleys and -if we are really unlucky- by metereological inversion layers.

Cheers, CMX

[bobshaw]

IMHO....the smog situation we are experiencing in the north is barely less than 1% of local origin as evidenced by the fire map and my personal observations in traveling the north during 'the season'. A while ago I read...

Anyone who agrees to this statement has not flown in a plane over Thailnd recently and is speaking from an uninformed position. Go at night, you will see that the problem is 100% caused locally when you see the hundreds and hudreds ande hundreds and hundreds of fires buring from the time you get in the air, unitl you get almost to Bangkok. There will not be one minute of the flight where you look down and do not see a huge fire burning. Educate yourselves before you speak. The problem can be clearly seen on the ground from an airplane.

[jaideeguy]

IMHO....the smog situation we are experiencing in the north is barely less than 1% of local origin as evidenced by the fire map and my personal observations in traveling the north during 'the season'. A while ago I read...

Anyone who agrees to this statement has not flown in a plane over Thailnd recently and is speaking from an uninformed position. Go at night, you will see that the problem is 100% caused locally when you see the hundreds and hudreds ande hundreds and hundreds of fires buring from the time you get in the air, unitl you get almost to Bangkok. There will not be one minute of the flight where you look down and do not see a huge fire burning. Educate yourselves before you speak. The problem can be clearly seen on the ground from an airplane.

I did just fly up from BKK a couple of days ago and observed the haze all the way. Admittedly it was a bit less in BKK [by the sea, but maybe more industrial and vehicle polutants]......and maybe you should educate yourself and look at the daily updated map. Now, it is showing a bit more fires in northern LOS, but the largest polluter is obviously Myanmar. Hard to distinguish with no borders. You can see the haze simply by driving and when it is everywhere from just north of BKK to MaeSai with concentrations in the valleys and most probably further north all the way to China.

Have heard reports from Issan that the haze is there as well......it's continental my friend and the only way to escape it is to go up in elevation over 1,000meters or go to the sea, where there are sea breezes and humidity to disapate it.

[chiang mai]

...but this is not the case, it's just in the North.

Yes, because of the topography of Northern Thailand. The fires are everywhere, but the smoke is carried away from the central plains and coastal areas more easily. Here in the north it get's trapped in the valleys and -if we are really unlucky- by metereological inversion layers.

Cheers, CMX

I have to admit there is some mileage in the inversion/mountains theory but I'm not 100% convinced. I've seen this problem over the past nine years from every angle, from planes from driving and from living on the 16th floor in the heart of CM - I can recall driving from CM to Sukhothai one early evening and seeing mile after mile of fires on both sides of the road for the entire journey, really not good at all.

But I continue to look at the fire map regularly and my sense is that there's a much heavier concentration of fires, for a longer period, outside Thailand than in and that most of these are to the North, North West and NorthEast of us. What I suppose is needed at this stage is someone who better understands the meteorlogical aspects of all of this, the dimensions of the inversion layer and most importantly, a wind current map of the region. Anyone?

Edited February 29, 2012 by chiang mai

[Tywais]

But I continue to look at the fire map regularly and my sense is that there's a much heavier concentration of fires, for a longer period, outside Thailand than in and that most of these are to the North, North West and NorthEast of us.

I did another overlay to outline Thailand over the current time fire map. Looks like the whole Northern Thailand is on fire.

[jamesbrock]

I can recall driving from CM to Sukhothai one early evening and seeing mile after mile of fires on both sides of the road for the entire journey, really not good at all.

I drove from Chiang Mai to Sukhothai yesterday, and can safely say that for 80% of the trip I was looking at scorched earth. It was incredible.

[MESmith]

Northern Thailand fires pollute northern Thailand. Burmese fires pollute Burma.

http://firefly.geog.umd.edu/firemap/

The smog appears & disappears too quickly once the wind builds up. I don't accept the "it's from outside Thailand" theory.

Edited February 29, 2012 by MESmith

[chiangmaidavid]

Yes, the smoke might be a little on the thick side. At least we have plenty of beer and women to keep us preoccupied.

[nikster]

There is overwhelming evidence that fires cause smoke. Who'd have thought, right?

It's ridiculous to argue that the current haze situation has nothing to do with the hundreds of large scale and tens of thousands of small scale fires in Thailand. If your house is on fire, will you blame your neighbor for the smoke because their house is also on fire?

The sensible thing to do is to put out one's own fire first.

[chiang mai]

There is overwhelming evidence that fires cause smoke. Who'd have thought, right?

It's ridiculous to argue that the current haze situation has nothing to do with the hundreds of large scale and tens of thousands of small scale fires in Thailand. If your house is on fire, will you blame your neighbor for the smoke because their house is also on fire?

The sensible thing to do is to put out one's own fire first.

I realize this is a difficult concept to understand but with a little effort the coin can be made to drop: nobody has proposed that the current pollution layer is derived exclusively from outside Thailand, there is however a field of thought that suggests a large proprtion of it comes from neighbouring countries - the mix of external versus internally sourced pollution may vary from 20%/80% to 60%/40% or more and until we understand more about the characteristics of the inversion layer and regional wind currents, we probably will not know. There now, that wasn't difficult was it!

[cloudhopper]

There is overwhelming evidence that fires cause smoke. Who'd have thought, right?

It's ridiculous to argue that the current haze situation has nothing to do with the hundreds of large scale and tens of thousands of small scale fires in Thailand. If your house is on fire, will you blame your neighbor for the smoke because their house is also on fire?

The sensible thing to do is to put out one's own fire first.

I realize this is a difficult concept to understand but with a little effort the coin can be made to drop: nobody has proposed that the current pollution layer is derived exclusively from outside Thailand, there is however a field of thought that suggests a large proprtion of it comes from neighbouring countries - the mix of external versus internally sourced pollution may vary from 20%/80% to 60%/40% or more and until we understand more about the characteristics of the inversion layer and regional wind currents, we probably will not know. There now, that wasn't difficult was it!

No it wasn't difficult just stupid.

[chiang mai]

There is overwhelming evidence that fires cause smoke. Who'd have thought, right?

It's ridiculous to argue that the current haze situation has nothing to do with the hundreds of large scale and tens of thousands of small scale fires in Thailand. If your house is on fire, will you blame your neighbor for the smoke because their house is also on fire?

The sensible thing to do is to put out one's own fire first.

I realize this is a difficult concept to understand but with a little effort the coin can be made to drop: nobody has proposed that the current pollution layer is derived exclusively from outside Thailand, there is however a field of thought that suggests a large proprtion of it comes from neighbouring countries - the mix of external versus internally sourced pollution may vary from 20%/80% to 60%/40% or more and until we understand more about the characteristics of the inversion layer and regional wind currents, we probably will not know. There now, that wasn't difficult was it!

No it wasn't difficult just stupid.

Which means you either don't understand or you have proof as to why it's not so, which is it and let's see the workings in the event of it being the latter.

[cloudhopper]

Which means you either don't understand or you have proof as to why it's not so, which is it and let's see the workings in the event of it being the latter.

The infrared image that Tywais posted is clear proof. The regional winds are well understood and they are not converging on Northern Thailand from every direction. The 'field of thought' you point to largely emanates from incompetent government officials. That bozone layer appears to be quite effective against even simple concepts.

[T_Dog]

I wonder what the time averaging of those fire maps are? Most of the fires I see regularly up here in Mae Taeng only last for about two hours or so. You will see the mountain side light up at night as the person walks along and two or three hours later it is done. I would guess hundreds are lit every hour or so in all of Northern Thailand. Last night some kids lit a fire only a few hundred meters from the house. The air up here is particularly bad this morning (visibility less than 2 km) so if the winds blow it toward Chiang Mai, it will get worse there today.

[DixiePig]

I own a guest house in the Old City and I can attest to the smog hurting my business. I am also of the opinion that arguing about field fire origins and the failure of the national government to take action to improve our air is --no offense-- a non-starter.

Perhaps we could pursue smaller initial steps. How's about having all public transport vehicles on LP gas by January 1, 2014? Limit private vehicles inside the Old City to folks who live/work there and require emission testing and permitting for other vehicles to enter? That would require more people to use public transport and the tuk tuk and songthaew drivers will make up in fares what they spend in upgrades. (maybe the government could subsidize the upgrades)

If we do nothing there will soon come a day when there will be no fares at all for the songthaew and tuk tuk drivers and no guests for me. And for those who, as I do, consider this a half measure, let me suggest that the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

[rcjoop]

I recently read a scientific paper concerning the 2007 smog in the Chiang Mai area, they stated that for the fine dust 50 to 70% is produced by local/regional fires, 10% from vehicles and the rest “long range transport”

Not sure how they arrived at these numbers but it seems very clear that a lot can be done inside Thailand

[chiang mai]

Which means you either don't understand or you have proof as to why it's not so, which is it and let's see the workings in the event of it being the latter.

The infrared image that Tywais posted is clear proof. The regional winds are well understood and they are not converging on Northern Thailand from every direction. The 'field of thought' you point to largely emanates from incompetent government officials. That bozone layer appears to be quite effective against even simple concepts.

The map posted by Tywais is useful to help understand the extent of burining in Thailand, not more than that.

The Northeast (NE) monsoon brings cool air from China and Vietnam between November and May, the Northwest (NW) monsoon brings air from India during the same period, the NE monsoon alone could be partially accountable for the importation since it is that weather pattern that is largely responsible for CM's weather at this time of year. As for whether or not the two weather patterns/current streams converge in Northern Thailand I have no idea, I was kinda hoping that perhaps someone might be able to produce an air currents map of the region.

Finally, it shows how little attention I pay to government propoganda since I was pretty much unaware that the imported smog concept was now part of the party line, for my part that's just background noise and I'm not interested in excuses so much as I am in causes.

[TheScribe]

I want to try to put a bit of proper science and reasoning into these discussions about the sources of the atmospheric pollution currently affecting Northern Thailand. I searched the Web for information about the local prevailing winds and the best document I found is "Surface Wind Distributions in Thailand" available here: http://www.scienceas...07_154_169.pdf. Its 30 years old and written with a view to assessing the feasability of wind power in Thailand, but climate data will not have changed significantly.

Now some of the maths is a bit hard, but if we look at Table 1 and the data for Chiang Mai, the average wind conditions for February to April are as follows:

Periods of calm (s): 60% (Wind over 1 meter per second for 40% of the time)

Average wind speed (k) : 1.2 meters per second

Wind variability (c): 2.0 (indicates light and variable winds)

Wind direction (theta): 180 (due south)

Constancy of direction (r) 0.4 (medium variability)

So we have more calm than wind, and the light winds we do have mostly blow from the south. Now 1.2 meters per second is about 4.3 kilometres per hour. If the wind blows for 40% of the day, that is (4.3 X 24 X 40%) or about 40 kilometres per day.

What we have in Chiang Mai ON AVERAGE for this time of year is air moving from the south at a rate of 40km per day. So if air pollution in CM city is coming from anywhere, its certainly not Burma, Laos or China. Most towns in the North have pretty similar data (except Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son where the prevailing wind is from the east). So if the pollution is coming from anywhere outside CM province, its coming up from Lampoon (about 1 day's wind blow away) or Tak and Sukhothai (about 6 days away) or the rest of the Central Plains (up to about 2 weeks away).

I have no data on how long it takes for smoke to settle or disperse, but the inescapable conclusion is that almost all the pollution we are experiencing is local or coming from points south (with the possible exception of Chiang Rai). The problem is within Thailand's borders, blaming neighbours to the West, North or East is missing the facts.

If you want to dispute this conclusion, go ahead, but please try to get better data or better maths before you start. Thank you.

[TheScribe]

The link should be http://www.scienceasia.org/1981.07.n4/v07_154_169.pdf

[Tywais]

Just a small correction here. The air is moving from the north to south not the other way. That would be from Burma/China.

Wind direction (theta): 180 (due south)

Your post "air moving from the south"

[TheScribe]

Umm. From Wikipedia "Wind direction":

Wind direction is reported by the direction from which it originates. For example, a northerly wind blows from the north to the south.^[1] Wind direction is usually reported in cardinal directions or in azimuth degrees. So, for example, a wind coming from the south is given as 180 degrees; one from the east is 90 degrees.

So I think I'm correct. The prevailing wind is from the south.

I did make a mistake on the wind speed though. The wind speed in meters/sec is c and variability is k (I think). So 40km per day should be about 90km. Unfortunately they massaged the data for their own purposes. Is there a better data set out there?

[chiang mai]

Presumably the idea that the air currents in northern Thailand move from South to North comes from the document link you posted, I am unable to open it?

This document reports wind direction in CM currently as being NWN:

http://www.hs0zee.com/Information/Weather%20Station/Vantage%20Pro2/Current_Vantage_Pro.htm

Edited March 1, 2012 by chiang mai

[cloudhopper]

Umm. From Wikipedia "Wind direction":

Wind direction is reported by the direction from which it originates. For example, a northerly wind blows from the north to the south.^[1] Wind direction is usually reported in cardinal directions or in azimuth degrees. So, for example, a wind coming from the south is given as 180 degrees; one from the east is 90 degrees.

So I think I'm correct. The prevailing wind is from the south.

I did make a mistake on the wind speed though. The wind speed in meters/sec is c and variability is k (I think). So 40km per day should be about 90km. Unfortunately they massaged the data for their own purposes. Is there a better data set out there?

Although that is the customary practice it is unfortunately far from universal. For example sea state charts often show the direction the wind is blowing to. Also in this region the winds aloft are usually opposite the surface monsoon wind direction. Typically the surface winds in this season blow from the Northeast.