Review of Regional Haze Situation for June 2022
1.1 Southwest Monsoon conditions persisted over the ASEAN region in June 2022. Over the Philippines and much of the southern ASEAN region, the prevailing winds blew mainly from the southeast. Regions close to the Equator experienced winds that were light and variable in direction. Over the Mekong sub-region, the prevailing winds were mostly southwesterly (Figure 1).
1.2 During the review period, rainy weather prevailed over most parts of the ASEAN region. In particular, moderate to heavy showers fell on several days over western Borneo, as well as central and northern Sumatra, southern Sulawesi, northern Viet Nam, and northern Philippines. Drier conditions were observed over the Lesser Sunda Islands, coastal Viet Nam, central Myanmar, as well as northern parts of Thailand and Lao PDR (Figure 1).
1.3 Hotspot activity in the ASEAN region was mostly subdued in June 2022 due to the prevailing wet weather conditions. The total number of hotspots was lower or comparable to previous years for the same period (Figure 2 and 3), except in Lao PDR where a slightly higher number of hotspots was detected.
1.4 In June 2022, isolated to scattered hotspots were detected in parts of Viet Nam and Cambodia while few to isolated hotspots were detected in most parts of the southern ASEAN region on some days. However, these hotspots were short-lived and did not contribute to any significant smoke haze. During a brief period of drier weather toward the end of the review period, a slight increase in hotspots was detected in Sumatra and Borneo (Figure 4).
1.5 The overall fire intensity of hotspots detected over the ASEAN region was low during the review period of June 2022. There was no significant smoke haze observed via satellite imagery and ground reports (Figure 5).
