Review of Land Fires and Smoke Haze Situation for Second Fortnight of February 2019
1.1 The prolonged dry conditions in the northern ASEAN region contributed to the widespread smoke haze that continued enveloping most parts of the Mekong sub-region. Dense smoke haze was observed over parts of Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand during the first half of February 2019. There were also occurrences of transboundary haze as some smoke haze was blown towards Lao PDR and Viet Nam from the neighbouring countries during this period.
Figure 1: Widespread smoke haze over the Mekong sub-region
1.2 In the southern ASEAN region, localised smoke plumes were observed from isolated hotspots in Riau, Sumatra and in Johor, Peninsular Malaysia. Otherwise, hotspot activities remained generally subdued.
Figure 2: Smoke plumes from isolated hotspots in Riau, Sumatra and Johor, Malaysia