Air Quality - a balanced report with supporting data

[KaptainRob]

An excellent report from CNN () > https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/14/world/air-pollution-report-2022-climate/index.html?

Strangely, Thailand nor Chiang Mai do not feature, therefore I believe this data has been accurately assessed and reported without the usual sensationalist bias.  The article begins:-

 

 

Quote

 

Only 13 of the world’s countries and territories had “healthy” air quality last year, according to a new report, as air pollution surged to alarming levels in 2022.

The report by IQAir, a company that tracks air quality worldwide, found that average annual air pollution in roughly 90% of the countries and territories analyzed exceeded the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines, which are designed to help governments craft regulations to protect public health.

IQAir analyzed average air quality from 131 countries and territories, and found that just six countries — Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland and New Zealand — and seven territories in the Pacific and Caribbean, including Guam and Puerto Rico, met the WHO air quality guidelines, which call for an average air pollution level of 5 micrograms per cubic meter or less.

Seven countries – Chad, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Kuwait and India – had poor air quality that far exceeded the WHO guidelines with average air pollution over 50 micrograms per cubic meter.

 

 

 

[Eagle]

The CNN report mentioned refers to the whole of 2022 and all they have done is regurgitate the IQAir report. Quite rightly Chiang Mai doesn't and probably wouldn't appear on this list but if you go to the IQAir link and click on the "Live Major City Ranking" link you will see that right now Chiang Mai is number 10 on the list of the most polluted cities.

There was a news report on The Thaiger just last week that Chiang Mai residents will be given free masks because of the current pollution problem. https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/chiang-mai-residents-to-get-free-face-masks-as-dangerous-air-pollution-soars. The report says the pollution is due to the forest fires and personally I can find no reason to doubt that.

 

 

Edited March 17 by Eagle
Typed Thai instead of Chiang Mai

[KaptainRob]

1 hour ago, Eagle said:

The CNN report mentioned refers to the whole of 2022 and all they have done is regurgitate the IQAir report. Quite rightly Chiang Mai doesn't and probably wouldn't appear on this list but if you go to the IQAir link and click on the "Live Major City Ranking" link you will see that right now Chiang Mai is number 10 on the list of the most polluted cities.

There was a news report on The Thaiger just last week that Chiang Mai residents will be given free masks because of the current pollution problem. https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/chiang-mai-residents-to-get-free-face-masks-as-dangerous-air-pollution-soars. The report says the pollution is due to the forest fires and personally I can find no reason to doubt that.

Don't believe everything you read in the News, even Thaiger news .

The so-called 'IQA major city ranking' is cherrypicked and nowhere near telling the true story because they leave out lesser known cities in india, bangladesh or china. 

I've lived here for over 10 years and studied the problem which is not unique to Chiang Mai province but the whole of the north, from the foot of the Himalayas across 6 countries.

Each report contains an element of fact but sensationalizes with words like 'pollution'  where 'smoke haze' is a fairer description.  Big difference between chemical/industrial smog-pollution!

Yes ~ 90% of our smoke haze was from forest fires.  Blown away by thunderstorms leaving predominantly blue skies today.

 

 

[Eagle]

3 hours ago, KaptainRob said:

Don't believe everything you read in the News, even Thaiger news .

I would never believe EVERYTHING I read in the news. I find it useful to look at multiple sources of information. I have searched around the web and cannot find anything that says contrary to the IQAir report.

3 hours ago, KaptainRob said:

The so-called 'IQA major city ranking' is cherrypicked and nowhere near telling the true story

I would hazard a guess that much of this kind of data may not be the 'true story' as you say, but even so, I wonder why there would be any so-called 'cherrypicking' going on. Am I being naive or missing something?  Can you or anyone enlighten me?

I wonder what you make of this website https://aqicn.org/map/world/  which gets its data from multiple monitoring stations around the world. This seems to show that most of the Southeast Asian regions with the worst pollution levels in the world. 

ps. I don't understand why the last link I put doesn't show as a 'clickable link'. Perhaps someone can enlighten why that is as well?

Edited March 17 by Eagle

[Eagle]

And by the way, CNN is not exactly the most respected, reliable news outlet in the world so when it comes to believing what you read perhaps you also need to be a little more discerning. An article from August 2022 states that "A survey held in the United States in 2022 showed that 23 percent of responding adults believed CNN to be very credible" https://www.statista.com/statistics/239743/cnns-credibility-in-the-united-states/  23% credibility isn't something any media company would boast about.

 

 

Edited March 17 by Eagle

[KaptainRob]

7 hours ago, Eagle said:

And by the way, CNN is not exactly the most respected, reliable news outlet in the world so when it comes to believing what you read perhaps you also need to be a little more discerning. An article from August 2022 states that "A survey held in the United States in 2022 showed that 23 percent of responding adults believed CNN to be very credible" https://www.statista.com/statistics/239743/cnns-credibility-in-the-united-states/  23% credibility isn't something any media company would boast about.

I agree, CNN is not a reliable source of news hence my  emoticon.  This report does however include verifiable data and links.

I view many sources and mapping of data in relation to weather anomalies including smoke drift across south Asian countries and much of the high altitude haze we see across Thailand begins it's journey in India.  Most of last weeks smoke was from local forest fires, not chemical pollution and there were many cities with high AQ readings  as bad or worse than CM.

You might follow Duncan Riley at https://www.facebook.com/groups/ChiangMaiNewsinEnglish/ re the AQ phenomena and you'll find he often shoots down any misinformation with hard data.   You may have to scroll a fair way to find the best info and he quotes AQ readings for many cities in the region.

[KaptainRob]

New records set today in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province as forest fires rage across Burma-Thailand and Laos.

486 micrograms at noon !

 

Today (March 26, 2023), the Air4Thai website, the Pollution Control Department (PCD) reported air quality at 12:00 noon in the northern region of 17 provinces, found PM 2.5 dust levels exceeding standards in 28 areas, especially Mae Sai district, province. Chiang Rai is still a crisis, the hourly PM2.5 dust price is still likely to rise.

However, after the morning time at 07.00, the dust value was measured at 459 mcg per m3, later at 11.00 the measurement was 480 mcg per m3 and at 12.00 it moved to 486 mc. g.per cubic meter

 

While GISTDA revealed data from the Suomi NPP satellite (Suomi NPP) on March 25, 2023, Thailand found 4,376 hot spots higher than before, while neighboring Myanmar surpassed the highest number of 12,581 points according to with Lao PDR 8,535 points, Cambodia 744 points, Vietnam 720 points and Malaysia 31 points.

for hot spots in Thailand Most of them were found in 2,103 conserved forest areas, 1,502 national reserved forest areas, 364 agricultural areas, 196 other community areas, 193 areas of the SorPor Por. Area and 18 areas along the highways. The top three places are Mae Hong Son with 609 points, Nan with 439 points and Kanchanaburi with 322 points.

Source Thai PBS > https://www.thaipbs.or.th/news/content/325975?

 

 

[KaptainRob]

Current AQ readings @ 4pm = 525

[KaptainRob]

Jonathan Gabel posted on Duncan Riley's Chiang Mai News > https://www.facebook.com/groups/ChiangMaiNewsinEnglish/

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As mentioned a lot of times here already, contrary to popular belief, Chiang Mai is not the most polluted city in the world. Nor is it the most polluted city in Thailand. IQAir's live ranking only includes 90 cities from around the world, on average two per country, sometimes less, sometimes more. We are looking at only 65 countries represented in the ranking, so what we get is a very narrow and diluted view of the situation here in Thailand, which affects us most prominently, hence the big 'clickbait' headlines you see throughout media. Luckily, IQAir offers the function to see beyond the curated list.

We might therefore expect Bangkok Post (and Thaiger News) to publish misleading information about todays AQI readings in the North.

[KaptainRob]

Fires in Mae Hong Son province appear to have been set in forested areas by villagers seeking to harvest hed thob, aka 'barometer earthstar' mushrooms.

The rings of fire appear to confirm this >

[KaptainRob]

April 4th UPDATE

Forest fires continue to raze 1000's of acre of vegetation all across Burma-Thailand-Laos. 

Yesterday Chiang Mai city had partially blue skies until the welcoming SW breeze fanned fires on the slope of Doi Suthep (adjacent the city).  Our Governor called in a water-bombing helicopter and extra fire fighters from the airport so most fires were extinguished by late evening.  Here's the raw data >

 

1,786 fires Kingdom-wide yesterday, with Nan topping the list with 282. MHS was second with 177, followed by Chiang Rai with 133.

Chiang Mai fires by area type

conservation forest - 68

national forest - 58

farmland - zero

community land - zero

special zone - four

roadside area - zero

Source: Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency summary of hot spot statistics from the NASA VIIRS satellite data in the past one day in Thailand. https://fire.gistda.or.th/dashboard.html

Smoke haze settled in the valley overnight, was at unhealthy levels this morning and has been slowly lifting via convection during the day.  Midday AQ readings (most relevant as a daytime average) are below>

Mae Rim is a northern suburb of Chiang Mai city whilst Mae Taeng is 60 kms north and adjacent a huge blaze in the Sri Lanna National Park - declared Disaster area.

 

[KaptainRob]

Thursday 6th UPDATE

Fires all around Chiang Mai city over the past 24hrs combined with a light nor'westerly, has filled our valley with the worst smoke ever.

Many AQ readings at midday exceed 500; airport, nakornping hospital, Hangdong and elsewhere.  As the smoke slowly clears the average has come down below 300.

The wind is making it somewhat worse for Chiang Rai with smoke from fires around Pai (MHS) providing an average reading of 355.

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Pannawich Chantaklang, a doctor at Nakornping Hospital in Chiang Mai told CNN that the number of patients suffering from diseases related to air pollution had been “high” but was considered normal for this time of year.

“We have not been overwhelmed, we can still receive more patients but the number of people receiving treatment related to air pollution is higher,” he said.

Fires last night >