Smoke, Smog, Dust 2016-2017 Chiang Mai

[Mapguy]

The discussion of impacts is particularly helpful to get a better grasp of the situation.

The FIRMS reports of Doi Suthep-Pui still seem quite remarkable this year. I haven't keep comprehensive comparative figures, but the number spotted appears quite high There were 32 fires spotted on (basically) 21April. That's locally within a 15km radius. Never mind Myanmar!

Edited April 22, 2016 by Mapguy

[Mapguy]

The discussion of impacts is particularly helpful to get a better grasp of the situation.

The FIRMS reports of Doi Suthep-Pui still seem quite remarkable this year. I haven't keep comprehensive comparative figures, but the number spotted appears quite high There were 32 fires spotted on (basically) 21April. That's locally within a 15km radius. Never mind Myanmar!

Sorry, that's 36, not 32. As well, understand that satellite spotting doesn't capture all fires by far because of limited passes, sometimes weather, and fire duration and intensity.

[Mapguy]

I don't know all the correct terminology IS, but what I am saying is that when you look up on AQI there is a little box that says a number, and often those numbers are the same as many places. But in reality there is no difference between what that little box says here in Singapore as to what that little box says in CM. The point is "Lots of BS and a horrible filthy toilet to live in is what CM has become for 5 months a year.

Yes, so you've said, repeatedly!

Perhaps poster vivid will be so kind as to post a one year picture in order to stop the whining and to dispel the 5 month nonsense?

I read a CMU research paper online that concluded that PM2.5 in Chiang Mai was at dangerous levels from November until April.

I can't for the life of me find it again.

Is that Chiang Mai Muang or Chiang Mai Province?

Be aware also that measurement of PM2.5 in northern Thailand is a relatively new phenomena or at least the release of numbers certainly is. Previously it was taken that PM 2.5 was a presumed percentage of PM10, a measurement technique used by many countries and fairly reliable in the absence of specific PM 2.5 measurements - I believe Canada was one of the first to start measuring PM2.5 and that was not that many years ago, less than five I believe. The relevance of all of that is that any paper that concludes as you suggest needs to be based on actual measurements over time and that type of accurate reading is very young here.

Yes, the focus on PM<2.5 and its measurement compared to the measurement of PM<10 is relatively recent both in Thailand and, relatively far back, internationally. The reason is the added research that has shown just how much more insidious the PM<2.5 portion of PM<10 is.

The proportion of the smaller particles is the larger total was "generally accepted" to be 40 - 60%. However, certain agricultural burning and wood products produces a much higher proportion of PM<2.5. Eyeball some of the charts above, and you'll see that. Apparently burning corn waste is a big problem, more so than rice straw.

[Mapguy]

So, what IS the duration of the "burning season?" There really is no definitive answer to that. Is it longer now than it used to be? Keeping it simple, I'd argue that two "local" factors are key: mitigation efforts and the weather.

Regarding mitigation, one of the "strategies" in Thailand is the announced effort to encourage farmers to "spread out" their burning so that the concentrations of air pollution are not so concentrated (e.g., say, two-three weeks in March - April). Farmers have always started burning in December, but now, perhaps, the early burning has intensified. One new official twist this year was the ban for some weeks. Was that to promote tourism?

Regarding weather, the length of the dry season obviously means something. When the rains start, then burning stops with some intermittant rain relief earlier due to annual variations in atmospheric pressure, winds and temperature. This year 2015-2016 has been particularly dry and hotter (as much of the world, apparently) El Niño?

Within any particular time frame for the season, there are economic factors, of course, that affect the intensity of the pollution. Two examples are corn production (throughout the SE Asian region) and, with Myanmar, the huge governmental push to revive rice production. A third would be increased population pressure bringing on forest burning for additional agricultural land

So, how long is the season? No surprise that it does vary somewhat and that changes in behavior may extend it --- especially earlier, but in describing it in simple terms the tradtional time frame of mid-February - mid-April stands up pretty well to bookend the intense period. This year, the rains are "late" and things drag on, but I'll still go with tradition. Within that period, it is an annual crap shoot as to when the more intense burning occurs.

[Thailand]

Basically, to sum up, for a fair proportion of each year the air in and around Chiang Mai is dangerous to health and the authorities talk about it a lot during the period in question,would that be a fair summation?

[ammagic]

Loved Chiangmai for years but with ever worsening air quality & terrible burning season gave up & moved to Hua Hin. Can't believe how much better I feel. Constant headaches & sinus infections in CM. Disappeared after a few months here. I miss many aspects of CM but cannot imagine living year round in such bad air now. So glad I moved.

[chiang mai]

I posted this elsewhere but will put here also in the hope the powers that be think it's something worth considering:

I'm surprised the local Amphurs haven't developed a tractor sharing operation for these events, a central service specifically for use by farmers to avoid burning crops. The cost of one decent tractor will not be small but the cost can be recovered in variety of ways, a small charge to the farmer, (only a nominal fee) plus a subsidy from central government from the health care budget each year - PTT could subsidise fuel costs as could companies such as CP, just to show they really do care! For me, that's a win win scenario which wont solve all the burning problems but will likely reduce them substantially.

[Konini]

This is quite likely the most intelligent suggestion I've heard in a long, long time.

Good thinking, Batman.

[Tywais]

Seems the levels have taken a nose dive this morning with an AQI of 82 at the Si Phum station but Chang Peuk in yellow at 112.

[dave2]

re

Seems the levels have taken a nose dive this morning

they have

a month ago i couldnt see doi suthep !

this morning i can

dave2

[blueyeshk]

re

Seems the levels have taken a nose dive this morning

they have

a month ago i couldnt see doi suthep !

this morning i can

dave2

Hold your horses - just drove cm-Pai still a lot of mountain and roadside burning this is not done yet.

[chiang mai]

re

Seems the levels have taken a nose dive this morning

they have

a month ago i couldnt see doi suthep !

this morning i can

dave2

Hold your horses - just drove cm-Pai still a lot of mountain and roadside burning this is not done yet.

Pictures of active fires else it aint so - I also was on that road today!!!

[tropico]

It was better in the morning but PM10 is 285 now.

This is possibly going on till June if no rain would come!

[Tywais]

It was better in the morning but PM10 is 285 now.

This is possibly going on till June if no rain would come!

What a jump. I did see large flakes of black burned material on my balcony today.

[blueyeshk]

Today Thai-lead demonstration in front of old city hall/3 Kings monument at 5 pm. Join support- share- make aware.

Edited April 23, 2016 by blueyeshk

[mesquite]

It was better in the morning but PM10 is 285 now.

This is possibly going on till June if no rain would come!

What a jump. I did see large flakes of black burned material on my balcony today.

Capture.JPG

Sometimes I wonder about the accuracy of the whole system. That spike apparently mean nothing.

Edited April 24, 2016 by mesquite

[Tywais]

Sometimes I wonder about the accuracy of the whole system. That spike apparently mean nothing.

I also was wondering about that extreme change as it just doesn't make sense. After seeing how it just spiked and leveled off again I'm going to take that as an anomaly at the station instrumentation itself. The spike width is only 4 hours, 17:00-21:00. That means 3-4 readings for that time range.

[Awk]

I think it's more likely that there was a short-lived, mostly local, but not entirely local, source of pollution. As one can see, station 35 also shows a similar, but much smaller spike, so whatever happened during those hours I'm guessing was quite close to station 36.

If anything, I'd take it as an positive indication of the accuracy of the system.

Edited April 24, 2016 by Awk

[Diplomatico]

I think it's more likely that there was a short-lived, mostly local, but not entirely local, source of pollution. As one can see, station 35 also shows a similar, but much smaller spike, so whatever happened during those hours I'm guessing was quite close to station 36.

If anything, I'd take it as an positive indication of the accuracy of the system.

Tend to agree with Awk. My friends and I were commenting on how much clearer it was yesterday morning (visually) and then at around 5:00 pm I noticed that the mountain had become obscured again. This morning.....back to visually clearer.

[Tywais]

I think it's more likely that there was a short-lived, mostly local, but not entirely local, source of pollution. As one can see, station 35 also shows a similar, but much smaller spike, so whatever happened during those hours I'm guessing was quite close to station 36.

If anything, I'd take it as an positive indication of the accuracy of the system.

Good point and I also noticed the minor spike at 35. Possibly a trash burn near it since it was from 17:00-19:00 or weed/grass burn off.

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khrup,

In this year's hot-polluted season I seem to have more dry, itchy, eyes, more respiratory congestion, less overall energy ... than in the other years I've been here in these months; compared to other years, for the same months ... this year I am going out of the house, and my air-conned air-filtered room in it, much less than in any other year ( this is around my 13th. experience of roughly February to early June in Chiang Mai). fyi: I am not a smoker, and have rarely had any colds, flus, cough, respiratory whatever, sinus conditions, etc. However, it is true, for me, that my body does not like heat.

Of course, my sense that this year's "worse" is very subjective. And, I am engaged in even more intense computer use many hours per day (programming, creative writing) than in other years; that, alone, can increase visual symptoms, increase stress ... yada, yada, yada ...

I could hypothesize that my not exercising this year ... not getting out of the house to the gym, not taking long hot saunas, etc. ... could be contributing to a weakened immune system ... and, thus, more symptoms. On the other hand, I could hypothesize that those round-trips to the gym by bicycle would load me up with more pollutants, and, thus, contribute to more symptoms.

My increasing age (70's, now) is, no doubt, a factor, but hard to evaluate that. One could hypothesize that over many years here each hot-polluted season has some negative carry-forward, some cumulative effect, but I have no way to evaluate that.

I would be interested to know if you experience any increase this year, compared to other years you've been here, in symptoms that may be pollutant related. Could there be a "survey" ?

Why ? Well ... errr ... uhhh ... suffering shared is suffering diluted ?

cheers, ~o:37;

[cloudhopper]

Several large fires last night on the mountainside west of the Pai valley.

[Konini]

Sadly, I have to report that Doi Sutep was quite visible when the sun first came up - not very clear, but certainly quite visible. Now, at 8.20, it is very quickly disappearing. I fear that today may a a bad one, although there is some blue-ish sky above me.

[chiang mai]

Spent the afternoon at Panmivan in the Mae Sa valley, the hills just South of us were littered with a dozen major burns, all afternoon, smoke streaming several feet into the air, nothing subtle or discreet about it at all.

[keo]

http://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/news/bye-bye-smog-demonstration-draws-hundreds/

If this is all the people of Chiang Mai can muster, then I very much doubt those in power will be sitting up and taking notice/action.

Strange choice for a campaign name too, given that the pollution shows no signs of going anywhere. And I think they may be asking the wrong person for help to solve the problem.

That's my dose of cynicism for this morning.

[blueyeshk]

Spent the afternoon at Panmivan in the Mae Sa valley, the hills just South of us were littered with a dozen major burns, all afternoon, smoke streaming several feet into the air, nothing subtle or discreet about it at all.

Ola la mr.

"Pictures of active fires else it aint so "

[chiang mai]

Spent the afternoon at Panmivan in the Mae Sa valley, the hills just South of us were littered with a dozen major burns, all afternoon, smoke streaming several feet into the air, nothing subtle or discreet about it at all.

Ola la mr.

"Pictures of active fires else it aint so "

You weren't in the Mae Sa valley yesterday afternoon, were you!

[banagan]

Anyone know when they stop burning $hit? Its almost freakin May!

Edited April 26, 2016 by banagan

[mesquite]

Anyone know when they stop burning $hit? Its almost freakin May!

Any time they want to.

[Jdiddy]

It's nice to see an increasingly blue sky as you cycle up to Doi suthep, but dry as a bone, no water in the streams