'Air pollution robot to help forecasts'
PRATCH RUJIVANAROM
THE NATION

ENGINEERS in Bangkok have built a robot to gather and analyse data about air pollution to help forecast weather more accurately.

BANGKOK: -- The robot was developed by staff from the Hydro and Agro Information Institute (HAII) with assistance from Kasetsart University and King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi.

Surajate Boonya-Aroonnet, director of the Hydro Informatics Division at HAII, said due to changing and harder rain patterns in Bangkok's city area, this kind of device could improve rain pattern predictions, as it collects data on the condition of the atmosphere.

Dr Surat Bualert, an environmental science professor at Kasetsart's Faculty of Environment, said the robot analyses the elements and the intensity of dust particles less than 10 micro-metres (PM10) in size. It also measures the greenhouse gas level in the atmosphere.

"We have built a 110-metre tower at Kasetsart University for the robot to climb to different heights in order to gather the data," Surat said. "This is because the air has different layers according to height."

He said this data was vital in helping forecast weather as air pollution had a major impact on weather patterns in Bangkok.

"The dust particles in the air are the key to rain drop formation," he explained. "The dust has the ability to absorb moisture. When the dust ab-sorbs enough water it will fall as rain."

He said air pollution dust particles were unlike normal dust - more variable because they came from different origins. Thus, air pollution dust had different rates of absorbing moisture, and the ability to shift rain patterns in the city.

"The example from the experiment in Lampang showed that the dust from a wildfire was dry and did not absorb moisture very well, so it took a longer time to gather enough moisture to fall as rain, which caused the rain to fall in other places instead," he said.

He said analysed data from the robot would be sent to HAII to help staff make more accurate weather forecasts.

"Further in the project, we are looking at using a drone to gather air pollution data at a different height, or asking for permission to use a telephone signal transmission tower, rather than building a new tower, which is more expensive," he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Air-pollution-robot-to-help-forecasts-30257968.html


-- The Nation 2015-04-13

My god! Hey! I have an idea? Let's waste millions of baht creating and building a robot to help us forecast when the pollution is high. We don't need to use that money for finding ways to reduce pollution or control it.

"ENGINEERS in Bangkok have built a robot to gather and analyse data about air pollution to help forecast weather more accurately."

this is what is wrong with thai engeneers .... how is pollution related to forecast weather ?

burn fields, you get toxic smog, specially from MONSTANTO GMO CROPS, you know, the plants that use a dangerous toxic chemical to KILL EVERYTHING but the plant ... sponsored / promoted by CP

pollution is not weather .

Great they can help forecast but not stop farmers from burning. Waste of Thia baht!

" the robot to climb to different heights in order to gather the data"

Why not just have SENSORS at different heights than relying on a climbing machine? All the data can be sent for analysis in a location that doesn't even have to be at the tower. You know, there is this thing called radio waves and microwave technologies. This project looks more like a school science project than the result of combined academic institutions.

My god! Hey! I have an idea? Let's waste millions of baht creating and building a robot to help us forecast when the pollution is high. We don't need to use that money for finding ways to reduce pollution or control it.

Not to worry long after the pollution has killed us off these mechanical monsters will still be roaming around the country for data.

R2 D2 reborn?

Again, money is being paid to find out what is already known.

All you need is a pair of EYES, wasn't there a law banning the burning of paddy and sugar cane with a fine of 5000 bht which nobody took any notice of !!

i think the orginal concept to gather info at various altitudes for forcasting was referred to as weather ballons. there is probably a good stickpile somewhere if they sent the beagles out.

"ENGINEERS in Bangkok have built a robot to gather and analyse data about air pollution to help forecast weather more accurately."

this is what is wrong with thai engeneers .... how is pollution related to forecast weather ?

burn fields, you get toxic smog, specially from MONSTANTO GMO CROPS, you know, the plants that use a dangerous toxic chemical to KILL EVERYTHING but the plant ... sponsored / promoted by CP

Wow. That is one seriously deranged post.

Pollution is related to weather forecasting because:

- Particulates in the air influence rain formation

- Particulates also influence air quality. Part of the weather forecasts now include things like smog alerts.

GMO crops do not release toxic smog in levels higher than any other similar plant material.

i think the orginal concept to gather info at various altitudes for forcasting was referred to as weather ballons. there is probably a good stickpile somewhere if they sent the beagles out.

Maybe the Thai military can sell them a surplus blimp.

Ready for action..