Review of Regional Haze Situation for November 2020
1.1 Intermonsoon conditions over the ASEAN region gradually made way for the Northeast Monsoon in November 2020. The prevailing winds blew from the northeast or east over the northern ASEAN region and were light and variable over the southern ASEAN region. In the northern ASEAN region, dry weather prevailed over most of the Mekong sub-region except for the coastal regions of southern Viet Nam where higher rainfall was observed partly due to Super Typhoon Goni. The average daily rainfall (Figure 1) was highest in the Philippines under the influence of Tropical Storm Etau, Typhoon Vamco and Super Typhoon Goni. Wet weather prevailed over most parts of the southern ASEAN region as the monsoon band moved south towards the equator.
1.2 Due to drier conditions over parts of Kalimantan, Myanmar and Thailand, hotspot counts in these regions were slightly elevated compared to the same review period in 2016 – 2018 but lower than those in 2019. Elsewhere over the ASEAN region, the hotspot counts were comparable to those in previous years’ review periods (Figures 2 and 3).
Figure 2: Hotspot counts for the southern ASEAN region for the month of November between 2016 and 2020. [Note: The hotspot counts from 2019 onwards are based on the NOAA-20 satellite, while those from 2016-2018 are based on the Suomi-NPP satellite.]
Figure 3: Hotspot counts for the northern ASEAN region for the month of November between 2016 and 2020. [Note: The hotspot counts from 2019 onwards are based on the NOAA-20 satellite, while those from 2016-2018 are based on the Suomi-NPP satellite.]
1.3 In November 2020, Isolated hotspots were detected in many parts of the ASEAN region, particularly in Kalimantan, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi, and the Mekong sub-region (Figure 4). On a few days in November 2020, localised smoke plumes were observed to emanate from some of the hotspots in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and the Myanmar. Otherwise, no significant smoke haze was observed.
