Bangkok Air Pollution 2020

[TerraplaneGuy 91]

19 hours ago, DaveInSukhumvit said:

The wind direction and speed for yesterday and today is virtually the same.  Pollution levels all over BKK were significantly higher yesterday than today.  A pollution hot spot is shown in red near the Phra Nakhon Tai Power Plant.  I think that plant was the difference in air quality.  Otherwise, the wind off the ocean was pretty good for both days with little evidence of transboundary pollution. 

I did read up on combined cycle power plants, and this plant in particular.  Phra Nakhon Tha (AKA South BKK Power Plant) is a dual fuel design burning natural gas and diesel.  Either fuel can be a large contributor to PM2.5 (the dominant factor in yesterday's high readings).  I think they brought more generators online yesterday because other sources of power were offline ... or perhaps switched fuel sources one day to the next ... or a combination.

I don't think it was a bad meter in that location.  I have 2 meters.  Both read significantly higher yesterday than today.  Also Air Visual numbers (shown above) are not perfect, but do generally represent fair readings in the areas shown.  My meters confirm those readings and the government stations.

*Not a professional.  Multiple heads are better than one.

It was definitely a bad day on Tuesday, according to my monitor on Sathorn near BTS Chong Nonsi. 

[DaveInSukhumvit 22]

Another "special day" today leaving us to wonder why all the air pollution in BKK.  AFIK, it is all "self created" likely from factories starting up and burning.  (#MyTheory)
Air flow is shows that outside of BKK - on all sides - air is good.  Sad that we do this.






 

 

[JimShorts 86]

On 4/25/2020 at 9:36 AM, DaveInSukhumvit said:

Another "special day" today leaving us to wonder why all the air pollution in BKK.  AFIK, it is all "self created" likely from factories starting up and burning.  (#MyTheory)
Air flow is shows that outside of BKK - on all sides - air is good.  Sad that we do this.






 

 

Yes I noticed too, very interesting. Would really like to know the source. Especially considering there are much less autos on the streets. Some of it could be construction related?

[thedemon 1,393]

According to weather maps the wind direction is from the north and north-east now which usually means more haze. But it's a beautiful clear day today. Strange.

 

Both the temperature and humidity are a little bit lower this morning. That seems to be a factor. Maybe.

[MaxYakov 2,635]

1 hour ago, thedemon said:

According to weather maps the wind direction is from the north and north-east now which usually means more haze. But it's a beautiful clear day today. Strange.

 

Both the temperature and humidity are a little bit lower this morning. That seems to be a factor. Maybe.

Cannot rely on the weather maps. Best current wind and rain info is taken personally, outside IMHO.

Edited April 28 by MaxYakov

[jojothai 307]

This can be moved into the pollution thread.

Its been very good for a while, as one may expect with reduced activity.

But this morning is a different story

AQI 140-170.

I thought the lockdown was extended yesterday.

Did i miss something?

 

[DaveInSukhumvit 22]

redundant

Edited April 29 by DaveInSukhumvit
redundant

[DaveInSukhumvit 22]

On 4/28/2020 at 8:31 AM, MaxYakov said:

Cannot rely on the weather maps. Best current wind and rain info is taken personally, outside IMHO.

Thanks Max.  This is the second comment I have seen questioning wind direction and it caused me to learn something new.  I turns out that the Ventusky wind map last update was 12PM UTC (or 1AM BKK time).  I think they only update 4x/day.  This could make the readings off a little or a lot depending on wind changes.  I think Ventusky and AirVisual (pollution map) use similar models b/c they usually show same airflow patterns.



 

Edited April 29 by DaveInSukhumvit

[Jimbo2014 2,154]

You havnt missed a thing and I thank you for posting this.  It boggles the mind that this government,  in a complete lockdown, is incapable of controlling the pollution.  This can only mean there is rampant burning taking place around Bangkok.  Cant anyone enforce anything other than an alcohol ban in this country?  Pollution has been shown to aid the spread of Covid and also cause major long term damage to the lungs and other organs exceeding Covid yet no-one seems to care.  The government is trying to promote outdoor cafes to limit the spread then kills people with the poor quality of the air.  The ship is sinking faster and all the lifeboats are almost gone.

Edited April 29 by Jimbo2014

[JimShorts 86]

Again today with the air pollution being high. This morning almost 160 reading on Airvisual. It is very odd (as noted) with so much less traffic and no burning (as can be seen from the Nasa Fire watch). It must be industrial and/or construction. It seems to mostly be coming from the areas west of Bangkok. I don't personally know much about those areas and if they have a lot of industry and/or construction. I would assume most the construction is in Bangkok. 

[JimShorts 86]

Harvard published a study on the link between air pollution (PM2.5) and Covid-19. The results are pretty crazy. 

 

Results: We found that an increase of only 1 μg/m3 in PM2.5 is associated with an 8% increase in the COVID-19 death rate (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2%, 15%). The results were statistically significant and robust to secondary and sensitivity analyses.

 

Data sources: COVID-19 death counts were collected for more than 3,000 counties in the United States (representing 98% of the population) up to April 22, 2020 from Johns Hopkins University, Center for Systems Science and Engineering Coronavirus Resource Center.

 

Study Source: https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/covid-pm/home

[jojothai 307]

Agree,

Crazy that they dont do anything much to curb the burning etc.

I dont see traffic that much reduced as expected. Rush hour obviously much less, but there still seems to be plenty on the roads during the day.

Ratchadapisek, rama 4, sukhumvit nearby.

So there still seems to be plenty of activity.

I see we have some rain now.

That was predicted yesterday.

Lets hope it helps to clear up some of this.

[Misty 451]

1 hour ago, JimShorts said:

Again today with the air pollution being high. This morning almost 160 reading on Airvisual. It is very odd (as noted) with so much less traffic and no burning (as can be seen from the Nasa Fire watch). It must be industrial and/or construction. It seems to mostly be coming from the areas west of Bangkok. I don't personally know much about those areas and if they have a lot of industry and/or construction. I would assume most the construction is in Bangkok. 

 

 

In Asoke-Thonglor area of Bangkok, it is high now and was high last night too. Industrial or construction makes sense, although not that much visible construction going on in this area, and certainly nothing new or unusual in the last day or so.  Plastic garbage burning? See "Plastic use soars after dine-in ban" 9 Apr from the source that cannot be named or linked to.

[DaveInSukhumvit 22]

I know one source of pollution right now.  Onnut Garbage dump is burning.  Sorry about those to the West


 

[DaveInSukhumvit 22]

Onnut Dump wishing residents to the West a good morning