Review of Land Fires and Smoke Haze Situation for First Fortnight of April 2019
1.1 An increase in shower activities over the southern Mekong sub-region since late-March helped to subdue hotspots and improve the haze situation over Cambodia, central and eastern Thailand, and the southern parts of Lao PDR and Viet Nam. However, smoke haze from persistent hotspots in the northern part of the Mekong sub-region continued to be observed. Dense smoke haze was observed on many days over eastern Myanmar, and the northern parts of Thailand and Lao PDR. Some smoke haze was blown to the northern parts of Viet Nam by the prevailing winds.
1.2 In the southern ASEAN region, hotspot activity was generally subdued except for isolated hotspots with smoke plumes detected in Riau, Sumatra, east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, and West Kalimantan in the second week of the fortnight.
Figure 1: Himawari-8 satellite image on 9 April 2019 shows smoke haze over the northern Mekong sub-region.
Figure 2: Himawari-8 satellite image on 7 April 2019 shows isolated smoke plumes in Peninsular Malaysia and Riau, Indonesia.
Figure 3: Himawari-8 satellite image on 7 April 2019 shows localised smoke plumes in West Kalimantan.