Smoke, Smog, Dust 2015 Chiang Mai

[chiang mai]

Have to admit that the smell is in the air in Mae Jo. But after all, it is Sunday so what else can we expect.

[CNXBKKMAN]

I have been in Chiang Mai for the whole of the burning season. I have had no coughs, no sore throat and no itchy eyes, not even on the bad days. This doesn't mean it's not been bad for my health though.

[vivid]

57t Chiang Rai has the worst reading today, 24-hr PM10 of 223 ug/m3.

Hope that they have the budget to implement more PM2.5 equipment for more areas soon.

[T_Dog]

Just back from a mountain bike ride above Mae Rim and there was lots of fresh burning. Looks to me like at least four different guys lighting fires on the trails and roads. New leaves on the ground so lots of burning opportunity still to go until it rains. Here are some photos taken just this morning. There were active flames but they do not show up well in the photos.

It appeared that the inversion layer was at around 2200 feet MSL as I could look toward the mountains and they were brilliantly clear at the altitude. Looking back toward the Mae Rim-Chiang Mai valley was a pitiful sight as one of the photos shows.

[khwaibah]

Back to normal.

[nikster]

Excellent article in Chiang Mai Citylife.

http://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/citylife-articles/choking-for-air-chiang-mai-in-crisis/

Thanks for posting this. This article stands out from the rest because it features actual people working on actual solutions to the problem, lack of government support be damned. This is the way to go - find alternatives for the farmers that are better than burning. Love the mushroom farms idea, and also the kiln and compost pyramid.

[masuk]

Tuesday.

Just flew in to Chiang Mai this morning. Smoke started at BKK, and just got thicker all the way to Chiang Mai.

There were quite a few surprised tourists, commenting on the smoky smell and lack of visibility.

[beau thai]

I have noticed quite a few posters comment on others posts about coughs, sore eyes etc, saying that it doesnt bother them. I find the same, unless I play sport and then I get exhausted far more quickly.

I dint realise that the pm10/pm2.5 measures were just about size. As in, Pm10 is 10 to a human hair,. and pm2.5 is 40. And pm2.5 is far more dangerous, not only because we are less aware of it, but it gets deeper in to the body because of its small size.

I stumbled across this:

"In 2013, a study involving 312,944 people in nine European countries revealed that there was no safe level of particulates and that for every increase of 10 μg/m3 in PM10, the lung cancer rate rose 22%. The smaller PM2.5 were particularly deadly, with a 36% increase in lung cancer per 10 μg/m3 as it can penetrate deeper into the lungs."

Scary stuff when you consider the impact of every increase of 10. So even though you dont feel the bad air as you walk around, you are still sucking this stuff in, masks or no masks.

It certainly wont bring happiness to the people......

Contents

[vivid]

Nice photos T_dog!

I have noticed quite a few posters comment on others posts about coughs, sore eyes etc, saying that it doesnt bother them. I find the same, unless I play sport and then I get exhausted far more quickly.

I dint realise that the pm10/pm2.5 measures were just about size. As in, Pm10 is 10 to a human hair,. and pm2.5 is 40. And pm2.5 is far more dangerous, not only because we are less aware of it, but it gets deeper in to the body because of its small size.

I stumbled across this:

"In 2013, a study involving 312,944 people in nine European countries revealed that there was no safe level of particulates and that for every increase of 10 μg/m3 in PM10, the lung cancer rate rose 22%. The smaller PM2.5 were particularly deadly, with a 36% increase in lung cancer per 10 μg/m3 as it can penetrate deeper into the lungs."

Scary stuff when you consider the impact of every increase of 10. So even though you dont feel the bad air as you walk around, you are still sucking this stuff in, masks or no masks.

It certainly wont bring happiness to the people......

Contents

Heh heh...better late than never.

PM2.5, actually for Indonesian biomass haze caused by peatland burning (underground), they figured that the particle distribution was predominantly 0.15 to 0.4 microns.

In Shanghai, they are now (actually article was in 2012) talking about PM0.1, called ultrafine particles, and how they go straight past the aveoli. There is little to no effect on your lungs or throat.

[wisemonkey]

How is the air quality away from this season, June onwards, its amazing what a difference a quick storm will do, you notice the air is so much cleaner instantly, crazy to think how much of that stuff we are sucking into our longs over the last month or so. Hopefully its clean fresh air the remainder of the year.

[CNXBKKMAN]

June through the rainy season the air quality is fine and there is great visibility and amazing skies. Better than the cool season in many ways.

[orang37]

June through the rainy season the air quality is fine and there is great visibility and amazing skies. Better than the cool season in many ways.

Every thread should have at least one cup-half-full person. Cough, wheeze, gasp.

cheers, ~o:37;

[CNXBKKMAN]

I thought everyone would agree the air quality is good June through the rainy season? Amazing skies,clouds,sunsets might not mean much to some people or barely noticed.

[blueyeshk]

The Last water is splashed , the last beer drunk, everybody returned from a holiday which gave the north region relieve as magically even the "wildfires" took a break - now it's time to prepare for the big finale burn, smoke and fire until rain starts.

Edited April 15, 2015 by blueyeshk

[matterhorn]

All the fires are bad but what really shocked me is that they have a HAZARDOUS WASTE INCINERATOR IN DOWNTOWN CHIANGMAI! It's right behind Central Kad Suan Kaew on the property of Suan Dok Hospital. Apparently they burn their hazardous hospital waste there. This explains the sensation of burning throat and eyes when in the Central car park. The incinerators look old, may have been operating for many many years. I was told that there is a "special permit" by the city because the hospital is government owned...

[cloudhopper]

Forest fires going on both sides of the Pai valley...

[T_Dog]

Forest fires going on both sides of the Pai valley...

Have a few west of Mae Rim as well. Luckily the winds are carrying away the smoke, and thunderstorms are in the forecast for Thursday. I am out of Filtrete so am hoping the particulates don't build up.

[MESmith]

Rice harvest underway San Kamphaeng way. You know what they do next....

[TheAppletons]

Forest fires going on both sides of the Pai valley...

Have a few west of Mae Rim as well. Luckily the winds are carrying away the smoke, and thunderstorms are in the forecast for Thursday. I am out of Filtrete so am hoping the particulates don't build up.

Those winds must be carrying the smoke into Chiang Mai. Very strong smell of smoke in the air right and now greatly reduced visibility from just this morning.

[beau thai]

Facebook group 'Fire reports Chiang Mai' have just announced that they are making a documentary film about the problem and they would like to hear from both people knowledgeable about the subject and

sufferers who would like their voice/opinions to be heard. Another opportunity to add to the pressure for change.

[slipperylobster]

Very breezy here in San Sai Chiang Mai. High pressure system moved in from China. Fresh colder air last night...no smoke early in the morning. Hope for another cool night and some rain.

[vivid]

Forest fires going on both sides of the Pai valley...

Have a few west of Mae Rim as well. Luckily the winds are carrying away the smoke, and thunderstorms are in the forecast for Thursday. I am out of Filtrete so am hoping the particulates don't build up.

I ran a test involving 3M filtrete on my aircon with 100% coverage over the intake.

Start PM2.5 concentration, 35 ug/m3. Actually ard the same as Singapore NEA reported for South 1900-2000hr = 33 ug/m3.

(1800-1900h = 32 ug/m3)

Aircon unit is Panasonic non-inverter, with e-ion function. I switched on the e-ion function to see if it charges the 3M (most aircons shd have such a function).

1. Aircon blower set to Turbo mode for max airflow.

2. Auto-swing is ON, for good mixing of air in the room.

3. Duration 0 mins, 10 mins, 20 mins.

I just did a DIY cleaning last weekend for this FCU. So the airflow is as good as new (I DIY clean my FCUs every 2 months with aircon cleaning foam and 90 PSI water from my Panasonic oral irrigator/water flosser).

[vivid]

Of course, my room is very small at about 12 sqm only. Also it's not leaky, besides the PM2.5 level is pretty low, so there isn't much dirty air to leak from the outside to the inside (clean) so as to mess up the cleaned air.

The 3M Filtrete should fare a bit worse in very hazy conditions.

[vivid]

Above with 3M filtrete, 20 mins run. 35 ug/m3 -> 4ug/m3

I ran without filtrete, aircon full blast + e-ion (it's likely that the airconditioning also wets the metal fins due to condensation hence contributing to the cleaning action, there's quite a fair bit of surface area). Anyway, this is also to demonstrate how an aircon FCU in a best case scenario would be able to clear the air/.

30 mins run (10 mins longer than the Filtrete)

31 ug/m3 -> 21 ug/m3 after 30 mins.

[Mapguy]

Thanks, Vivid; not bad. Appreciate the effort. There are a lot of test variables and different air conditioner types. Nonetheless, instructive, and it would be interesting to see what the results would be if the air were really nasty.

[vivid]

Thanks, Vivid; not bad. Appreciate the effort. There are a lot of test variables and different air conditioner types. Nonetheless, instructive, and it would be interesting to see what the results would be if the air were really nasty.

No problem at all, I am surprised that the 3M Filtrete is this effective. It is probably nowhere close to even H10/HEPA-10 grade, or 85% @ 0.3 microns. This probably demonstrates that airflow is king in an air purifier speak.

I am using a "low-grade cheap made in china type" laser particle counter that uses some algo that converts into ug/m3 so it's probably not too accurate (it seems decent if I were to compare with the environment ministry's figures), but on a relative scale it's very sensitive if I switch to particle count mode.

I have posted earlier in this thread about this graph that another guy here in Singapore did his own tests with a 3M during very high levels of PM 2.5 and PM10 during our 2013 super dense haze in Singapore. See below.

One important thing when using these 3M Filtrete aircon electrostatic filters is to ensure that the Fan Coil Unit is clean enough so that there is sufficient airflow, do set it to the highest fan speed that you've got. Else you are gonna freeze those fins and get a costly repair bill! Perhaps a better way would be to use several fans or something, bigger surface area + airflow is key.

Edited April 23, 2015 by vivid

[Mapguy]

This article is worth reading: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/820084-risk-of-a-calamity-if-north-haze-not-tackled-urgently/

[blueyeshk]

The final push they are not finish yet!

[Travelerusa40]

My balcony faces the mountain and it looks gray to me as I write this post. I was planning on retiring in CM but lack of government initiative I will go somewhere else. The government has the power, funding, and authority but it is very clear that this is the best they can do - very said.

[MESmith]

They burn all year round in the countryside where I live. "Burning Season" is myth