Haze coming from neighboring provinces affects Jambi

Antara 25 Sep 09;

Jambi, South Eastern Sumatra (ANTARA News) - Haze coming from South Sumatra, Bengkulu and Riau Provinces, has affected Jambi Province over the past three days.
The haze was especially very thick in the morning and had disturbed flights over the past two days, Remus L Tobing, head of the Jambi provincial meteorological and geophysics office, said here on Friday.

"Today, the haze has hampered visibility in the morning although it does not disturb flights which require a visibility of at least 1,800 meters for a plane landing," he said.

The wind moved from southeast to southwest and it caused the haze from Riau, Bengkulu and particularly South Sumatra, to accumulate in Jambi, he said.

There was no hot spot detected in Jambi from September 19 to 24, 2009, according to Frans Tandipau, head of the Jambi forestry service`s forest protection unit.

However, NOAA Satellite detected five hot spots in Jambi Province, on Friday (Sept. 24). Three hot spots were found in Sarolangun District, and two in Merangin District.
Sultan Thaha Saifudin Airport in Jambi City is located close to South Sumatra Province`s peat forest.

"Most likely the haze which has been covering Jambi, is from peat forest fire in the neighboring province," Frans Tandipau said.

Sultan Thaha Saifudin (STS) Airport in Jambi was closed for two hours from 7 am to 9 am local time, Thursday (Sept. 24), because of haze.

Thursday morning`s haze reduced visibility at Jambi`s airport to only 1,000 meters from the minimum normal visibility of 2,000 meters for pilots, he said.

On Wednesday (Sept. 23), a Garuda Indonesia plane serving the Jakarta-Jambi route was forced to land at Palembang`s Sultan Mahmud Badarudin II airport, and three hours later finally landed in Jambi at 11 am, also due to haze. (*)