Johor haze likely linked to smoke from southern Sumatra

 

A satellite image yesterday showing hotspots, smoke haze areas, and wind directions across Indonesia’s Sumatra, Kalimantan, Singapore, and Peninsular Malaysia. PIC FROM SINGAPORE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

JOHOR BARU: Smoke from fires in Indonesia's southern Sumatra is believed to be contributing to the haze blanketing Johor, with prevailing winds carrying transboundary smoke across the Malacca Strait into southern Peninsular Malaysia.

The Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) reported that moderate to dense smoke plumes were observed emanating from hotspot clusters in southern Sumatra, while haze from the region had also been observed moving towards Singapore and southern Peninsular Malaysia.

The pattern suggests the haze has shifted towards southern Peninsular Malaysia, with transboundary smoke from southern Sumatra a likely contributor.

ASMC serves as the regional centre for weather, climate and haze monitoring. It assesses the risk of transboundary haze based on factors including hotspot activity, smoke density, rainfall and prevailing wind patterns.

Heavy rain across parts of Johor today brought a slight improvement in air quality, with Air Pollutant Index (API) readings easing at several monitoring stations.

Earlier this morning, four Johor monitoring stations recorded the country's highest API readings with Kota Tinggi at 165, Pasir Gudang at 164, Pengerang at 162 and Larkin at 156.

As of 4pm, four of Johor's eight air-quality monitoring stations registered 'unhealthy' readings, led by Pasir Gudang with an API reading of 161.

Kota Tinggi recorded 159, followed by Pengerang (158) and Larkin (152), while Tangkak, Batu Pahat and Kluang remained in the moderate category at 62, 72 and 68, respectively.

Segamat recorded a good API reading of 58.

Meanwhile, Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) also reported yesterday that smoke plumes were observed emanating from fires in southern Sumatra, while prevailing winds were forecast to blow from the southeast or southwest.

Last month, Malaysian Meteorological Department Director-general Dr Mohd Hisham Mohd Anip said the haze was expected to persist as long as open fires continued in Sumatra and Kalimantan during the Southwest Monsoon.

He was quoted as saying that smoke from fires in Sumatra is contributing to the haze, with the Southwest Monsoon winds consistently carrying smoke from Indonesia towards Malaysia. - NST