Haze from Riau forest fires may drift to Malaysia, Singapore

Antara 14 Jul 09;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Haze produced by forest and plantation fires in Riau province has the potential of drifting to neighboring countries like Singapore and Malaysia, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said.

Head of the BMKG Observation section here Johanes Sudrajat said on Tuesday Riau province was covered by haze from 140 hot spots indicating forest and plantation fires in 11 districts and towns.

Meanwhile, winds with speeds of five to 12 knots from the Southeast to Southwest pushed the haze toward the Northeast, approaching Singapore and Malaysia.

"Therefore the two neighboring countries are likely to receive the haze from Riau and other provinces in Sumatra island which also have a haze problem," the agency said.

In the meantime, in accordance with data collected by the BMKG here from the NOAA satellites, the number of hot spots as indicators of land and forest fires in Riau Province reached 140.

The number represented a sharp increase compared with those monitored a day earlier which only showed 40 hot spots across the province.

The hot spots were spread in several districts snf towns among others in Bengkalis district, Dumai city and Rokan Hilir, Rokan Hulu, and Siak districts, the cities of Pekanbaru and Kampar.

Hot spots were also found in Pelalawan district, the ditricts of Indragiri Hulu (Inhu) and Indragiri Hilir (Inhil).

Previously, it was reported haze coming from forest and plantation fires had gotten so bad in Dumai city on Saturday that local authorities declareed a status of alert against air pollution. (*)

DOE: Hazy spell due to hotspots in Sumatra
The Star 14 Jul 09;

PETALING JAYA: The brief hazy spell experienced by Klang Valley residents yesterday was not caused by local fires but by hotspots from Sumatra, Indonesia.

From about 10am to 1pm, the Klang Valley was enveloped in haze, but the national Air Pollutant Index (API) ranged from good to moderate.

“Our API is averaged over 24 hours. Because the haze only lingered for a very brief period, it (API) was not affected,” DOE director-general Datuk Rosnani Ibrahim told The Star. She said the peat fires in Selangor had started more than a week ago and was not the main contributor to the haze.

Although the Fire and Rescue Department confirmed that there were peat fires in Kampung Batu 9, Jalan Kebun, Klang, Pulau Kempas and Bestari Jaya, none was serious enough to be picked up by satellite to be considered a hotspot.

“There are no hotspots in Malaysia. There were 88 hotspots in Sumatra, although it may not be the true representation because of cloud cover (affecting satellite imagery). Usually the situation becomes transboundary when there are 200 to 300 hotspots there.

“Our counterparts in Dumai, Riau, said the API was quite bad there. And there was wind blowing in our direction, that’s why we had the brief spell (of haze).”

Expect hazy conditions over next few months
Liaw Wy-Cin, Straits Times 15 Jul 09;

EXPECT more grey skies and stuffy conditions as a mixture of scrub fires in Indonesia and El Nino's impending weather shift brings more haze to Singapore.

These conditions will continue over the next few months, predict weather experts.

Last weekend, moderate haze descended upon many parts of Singapore as weather monitoring satellites picked up an increase in the number of hot spots in Sumatra, said weather expert Koh Tieh Yong from the school of physical and mathematical sciences at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

More farmers and logging companies on the Indonesian island, west of Singapore, are setting fires to clear forests. And winds from the current south-west monsoon are blowing the smoke towards the Republic.

According to data from the National Environment Agency's (NEA) website, the number of hot spots fluctuated over the past 30 days. There were as many as 280 spotted early this month, up from almost zero near the end of last month. But this dropped to about 20 last week.

The overall 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index reading, which measures air quality, was 50 last Friday, 40 on Saturday and 45 on Sunday. Readings from one to 50 are considered good.

This change in conditions may also be due to the development of the El Nino weather pattern, which warms the Pacific Ocean causing dry weather in our region, said Dr Lim Hock Beng, programme director of NTU's Intelligent Systems Centre, which sets up mini weather stations in schools as one of its tasks.

The last time land-clearing fires in Indonesia coincided with El Nino was in 2006, bringing a warmer and longer dry season.

'Whether we will see haze or not in Singapore depends on a particular day's precise wind direction,' said Dr Koh.

The NEA spokesman said winds over the next few days are expected to blow from the south-east or south and Singapore is unlikely to be affected by as much haze.

Haze unlikely these few days
Today Online 15 Jul 09;

SINGAPORE is unlikely to experience transboundary smoke haze in the next few days, said the National Environment Agency (NEA), because of favourable winds blowing from the southeast or south.

The NEA said a temporary shift in wind direction from the southwest last weekend carried traces of smoke haze from fires due to agriculture land-clearing in Riau to Singapore.

But the 24-hour PSI reading on Saturday and Sunday remained in the good range.

Whether Singapore will be affected by smoke haze in the weeks or months to come will depend on, among other things, the number and intensity of the fires and wind direction, said NEA.

The latest satellite images shows 228 hotspots in southern and central Sumatra. 938LIVE