Tania Tan, Straits Times 9 Aug 08;
HERE is some good news on the haze front: Prevailing winds are currently blowing smoke in a south-east or southerly direction - away from Singapore for now, says the National Environment Agency (NEA).
Air quality in Singapore yesterday was a low 35 - well within the 'good' range.
Anything above 51 on the Pollutant Standards Index is considered 'moderate'; a reading higher than 101 is considered 'unhealthy'.
Dry weather has caused an increase in slash-and-burn activities in Sumatra, leading to more than 500 hot spots flaring up last weekend.
There were fears that this weekend would be haze-filled, but that appears not to be the case.
The number of hot spots dropped to just 15 yesterday, said the NEA - although this was largely the result of extensive cloud cover shrouding most of the island and making satellite detection difficult.
Smoke plumes were also absent on the radar yesterday, said experts from the Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing (Crisp) at the National University of Singapore.
'We have to wait for a clear day to really tell what the situation is like,' said Crisp associate scientist Chia Aik Song.
On the whole, burning in Sumatra appears widespread but still confined to relatively small fires, he noted.
Serious haze episodes, like one in 2006, are usually the result of major fires, characterised by clusters of hot spots, he explained.
More than 8,000 hot spots were recorded in Sumatra two years ago, when the air quality in Singapore climbed past the unhealthy 150 mark.
Over in the Riau capital of Pekanbaru, Mr Afdhal Mahyuddin said warnings from the local government went out several days ago to stem slash-and-burn practices.
The air quality so far is normal, said the editor of the Eyes On The Forest website, a non-profit site focusing on the conservation of Indonesian forests.
'People are not wearing face masks yet.'
But he stopped short of saying that the haze threat had been licked.
'We're not sure whether the warnings have been heeded,' he said. 'I don't think they have been.'
