Fewer hotspots detected in Sumatra on Wednesday: NEA

Channel NewsAsia 12 Feb 14;

SINGAPORE: The number of hotspots detected in Sumatra on Wednesday has dropped to 283 from 458 on Tuesday.

In an update, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said about half of the hotspots were in Riau province.

But NEA noted that more smoke plumes together with haze were visible in Riau on Wednesday, compared with Tuesday.

This was partly due to some cloud cover despite the drop in the number of hotspots counted.

NEA added that the prevailing northeasterly winds over Singapore are expected to persist for a couple of weeks.

This means that for the rest of this week, the likelihood of transboundary haze affecting Singapore remains low.

But Singapore may experience occasional slight haze due to the accumulation of particulate matter under stable atmospheric conditions.

At 8pm, the 3-hour PSI was 41 and the 24-hour PSI range stood at 26-32. A reading of 50 and below means the air quality is in the "good" range.

NEA said it would continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as necessary.

Updates are available at the NEA website, the haze microsite, or at NEA’s Facebook page and NEA’s Twitter.

- CNA/gn