Smoke, Smog, Dust 2016-2017 Chiang Mai

[chiang mai]

A couple of very big fires near me in Mae Rim in the evening, local estate workers decided to burn branches and dead trees, flames going to twenty feet and more. There's a lot of senior police and military folks around here with serious scrambled egg on their caps yet nobody seems to notice/care, police station is less than a mile away and the main road about a quarter mile. The attitude seems to be that we will do what we need to do, regardless.

[whiterussian]

Familiar forest fire smells over Baan Tawai way

[vivid]

The US consulate site's AQI is correct. Index value of AQI 150 (index value of PSI 100 over here in Singapore, that's what the govt here use) is PM2.5 of 55.5 ug/m3 micrograms per cubic averaged over a 24-hr window. AQI 200 (PSI 200) is 24-hr mean of PM2.5 150 ug/m3. You can also use PM10, if the AQI index value is higher if you use that to calculate. In some areas, there could be spikes in CO, NO2, O3.....and those pollutants would then be used to give the AQI.

Anyway, past 4 day's been 70 ug/m3. You can do your own averaging, 24-hrs, 2-day, 4-day, 1-week. Heck, 1 or 2 months is cool and it gives you a wider window of thought. The health advisories are based on the 24-hr mean. But I have posted on page 1 the 8-hr mean as well which is a screen adjusted from the 24-hr mean figure, gotten from some US EPA study.

Edited March 9, 2016 by vivid

[naboo]

For me, this has been one of the better years by far since I arrived in 2008. I can see blue skies daily, in previous years, they have always been grey, I can see the stars now, Doi Suthep mountain is visible from the city.

Nothing to moan about, yet.

[CNXBKKMAN]

For me, this has been one of the better years by far since I arrived in 2008. I can see blue skies daily, in previous years, they have always been grey, I can see the stars now, Doi Suthep mountain is visible from the city.

Nothing to moan about, yet.

I agree compared to other years CM seems to be "ok" so far. I don't even know where my N95 masks are. I have not felt the need to wear one yet.

[Mapguy]

Vivid is being very thorough. Now, take the fgures he has provided on his graph and compare to them to the American EPA standards for PM<2.5.

Fire spotting and the reports of it are, well, "spotty." Satellite measures of the Doi Suthep-Pui area are also spotty (due to limited satellite passes and fire duration), but the frequency has been spiking in the last several days. I wouldn't be so sanquine as to say it is not as bad as in previous years --- and I lived through the 2006-2007 season --- which comparison is really irrelevant because it seems analogous to lowering the temperature in an oven. Your system still gets baked! Or, there is probably evidence that a smoker who reduces his habit from two to one pack of cigarettes a day reduces his odds of getting lung cancer, but care to place bets on his avoiding cancer?

[Cpkt8]

I don't know about previous years but I've been experiencing watery eyes and running nose ever since I arrived at CM almost 2 weeks ago. Feel being baked every day.

[chiang mai]

Interesting for me to see the difference between living in the city versus living in the country at this time of year. Visually here there's very little sense of burning season, unless you look for the mountains which have somehow disappeared (!), at ground level however everything looks the same as per normal. Compare that with a trip into CM yesterday and the view down the road near Central Festival which was murky and depressing, urgh! The bottom line on all of that is that I enjoy not having constant visual reminders of burning season, even the air here feels cleaner as a result of all the trees although maybe that's psychological - still can't escape the fact that my chest hurts when I breathe and I'm down with a seasonal cold as well, double urgh.

Footnote: I wrote two days ago about burning near me, flames up to twenty feet and nobody cares. Well yesterday those same estate workers got even braver and decided to burn an entire field during the day time and that generated lots of smoke, the very nerve of those chancers! The solution was to drive nearby, stop and take a few pictures of the burning and of them and then leave, an hour later the burn had been extinguished, the workers gone and the field half burned half not, result.

[SundayAfternoon]

@chiangmai sorry you're feeling sick, but can you be sure it's a 'seasonal cold' and not just your body's way of saying, I'm overloaded with toxins and my naturally detoxification system isn't coping. I'm going to produce copious amounts of mucus to get rid of some of it and ease the burden.

I'm sure there are subtle signs of overload in all of us, a more rapid heatbeat, higher blood pressure, increased thirst, more mucus, higher inflammatory markers in our blood, inflammation and stress in all of the cells (these come long before the observable signs of stunning eyes or respiratory difficulties) but the body has a remarkable way of trying to rid itself of it.

However, we are, as @mapguy says 'getting baked' whether we're aware of it or not.

I'd avoid any decongestants if I were you. Let the mucus flow and don't try to stop it in its tracks... as we so often try to do with a cold. Rest up.

Edited March 11, 2016 by SundayAfternoon

[Tywais]

CMU opens Climate Change Data Center

Real time air quality measurement system installed

Chiang Mai University has opened their Climate Change Data Center with new equipment to measure in real – time the particulate matter in Chiang Mai air on March 8, 2016. The Center was established in January 2016 and has equipment to measure the PM 2.5 and PM 10 matter in the air with equipment that measures and sends data back wirelessly to the Faculty of Engineering at Chiang Mai University.

The launch of the new center was announced at Chiang Mai City Hall on March 8, 2016 by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sate Sampattakul a lecturer of Industrial Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering at Chiang Mai University. The scientists are measuring PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels in the air and studying the trends and effects of dust and smoke. The Center has real time reporting at http://www.livebox.me/ruee2559/.

Full article here - Chiang Mai Mail

[puck2]

.........equipment set up to report in real time dust levels at five locations; Yupparaj Wittayalai School, Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna (Doisaket), Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, and Chiang Dao Hospital.

Very good idea.

But the old problem and question: are these locations representative for the city of CM?

[Mapguy]

Much more is needed than increasing the number of measuring stations. The Climate Change Data Center (CCDC) is a fine but a very late addition to measuring air pollution, as are US Consuate reports, but I say "late" because while measurement has basically been limited so far to two reporting government stations in Chiang Mai, it isn't so much that more data are needed. We need to focus on public health consequences and the elimination of burning. There is certainly no harm done in expanding awareness, and in future the monitoring stations could prove useful if and when amelioration efforts are applied which would call for monitoring. But what is really needed are solutions to the problem not more data that it exists.

When you read Chiangmai's post #218 footnote above, you can't help but be depressed. Others have made similar observations. There is obviously blatant disregard for the dangers involved with burning and there is an obvious lack of effective measures to stop it. Everyone is aware that the air is bad! It is way past time to move on!

Edited March 11, 2016 by Mapguy

[ExpatOilWorker]

Is the air around Chiang Rai better than Chiang Mai or is the smog level about the same?

[chiang mai]

I don't know what the official comparison of the numbers looks like but from all my almost monthly visits to Chiang Rai, my sense is that pollution in and around the province is typically similar to or worse than Chiang Mai city and the surrounds, sometimes far worse.

[MESmith]

A lot more corn is grown up there. Lots of waste to burn. Now, they're starting to grow more corn around CM

[Atum]

Is the air around Chiang Rai better than Chiang Mai or is the smog level about the same?

On average in the Burning Season both Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son have worse air pollution than Chiang Mai.

[TheScribe]

All the air quality measuring and reporting websites and apps are not working this morning.

Also it seems to be the worst day this season so far . Any news, anyone?

Edited March 12, 2016 by TheScribe

[Tywais]

All the air quality measuring and reporting websites and apps are not working this morning.

Also it seems to be the worst day this season so far . Any news, anyone?

Can't get to aqmthai either. The university one seems to be working. http://www.livebox.me/ruee2559/

[blueyeshk]

It feels good that my annual escape route worked out also this time perfectly- greetings from Bali see u back in June

[vivid]

Another nice video that I have found.

3:00 min mark. Health effects.

[Sparkles]

All the air quality measuring and reporting websites and apps are not working this morning.

Also it seems to be the worst day this season so far . Any news, anyone?

Bangkok paper reporting there are approx 200 fires burning in forests around Lampang.

The so called "no burning campaign" has failed once again

[JaseTheBass]

Chiang Mai smells like it's on fire tonight. The missus is off to the less stupid Isaan for a month on Tuesday. It's just me & you Palmla...

Edited March 12, 2016 by JaseTheBass

[Tywais]

FIRMS fire map, last 24 hours.

[naboo]

FIRMS fire map, last 24 hours.

Capture.JPG

No fires in the mountains directly north west of Chiang Mai. I wonder if there is some enforcement going on there.

[vivid]

Some pretty nasty conditions in Lampang on Thur and Friday (there was a data outage then....)

[chiang mai]

FIRMS fire map, last 24 hours.

Capture.JPG

No fires in the mountains directly north west of Chiang Mai. I wonder if there is some enforcement going on there.

I think it's because there's nothing there! Draw a line between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son and there's very little inbetween apart from mounntains, there's only really one road.

[blueyeshk]

FIRMS fire map, last 24 hours.

Capture.JPG

No fires in the mountains directly north west of Chiang Mai. I wonder if there is some enforcement going on there.

I think it's because there's nothing there! Draw a line between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son and there's very little inbetween apart from mounntains, there's only really one road.

U better broaden your horizon and take a trip beyond the city there are much more people living there than you think.

[naboo]

I think it's because there's nothing there! Draw a line between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son and there's very little inbetween apart from mounntains, there's only really one road.

U better broaden your horizon and take a trip beyond the city there are much more people living there than you think.

And a whole lot of land deforested for corn plantations. Last time I headed north out of Mae Chaem, the land started to look very bleak. At the left turn to Khun Yuam, there was not a tree in site, only corn plantations.

[MESmith]

FIRMS fire map, last 24 hours.

Capture.JPG

No fires in the mountains directly north west of Chiang Mai. I wonder if there is some enforcement going on there.

I think it's because there's nothing there! Draw a line between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son and there's very little inbetween apart from mounntains, there's only really one road.

U better broaden your horizon and take a trip beyond the city there are much more people living there than you think.

It's not easy on that map to see where that area without fires is. exactly. Looks like the valley west of Inthanon. Mae Chaem area?

[vivid]

Chiang Mai getting smoked a little bit more now? Max PM2.5 concentration achieved past midnight.