El Nino driven haze over the Southern Malaysian Peninsula and Borneo
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-1-2020
Abstract
The Southeast Asian (SEA) region is no stranger to forest fires - the region has been suffering from severe air pollution (known locally as `haze') as a result of these fires, for decades. The fires in SEA region are caused by a combination of natural (the El Nino weather pattern) and man made (slash-and-burn and land clearing for plantations) factors. These fires cause the emissions of toxic aerosols and pollutants that can affect millions of people in the region. Thus, this study aims to identify the impact of the SEA haze on the Southern region of the Malaysian Peninsula and Borneo region of East Malaysia using the entire air quality observation data at surface level in 2015. Overall, the concentration of PM10 was about two-fold higher during the haze period compared to non-haze period. The concentrations of CO, flux of CO and flux of BC were aligned with PM10 during the entire observation period. The wind field and cluster of trajectory indicated that the Southern Malaysian Peninsula and Borneo were influenced mainly from thewildfires and the combustion of peat soil in the Indonesian Borneo. This study finds that wildfires from Borneo impacted the Southern Malaysian Borneo more seriously than that from Sumatra region. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords
Aerosol, Trace gases, Haze, Wild Forest fires, Biomass burning, Peatland fires
Divisions
International,CHEMISTRY,ocean
Funders
Universiti Malaya (IIRG009A-2019),Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia from Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) (FP0992019A),University of Malaya, Malaysia from Equitable Society Research Cluster (ESRC) research grant (GC003B-17SBS),UK Research & Innovation (UKRI),Universiti KebangsaanMalaysia (UKM), Malaysia (DIP-2018-030)
Publication Title
Science of the Total Environment
Volume
730
Publisher
Elsevier
Publisher Location
RADARWEG 29, 1043 NX AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS