A total of 353 hotspots have been found in Kalimantan and another 113 in Sumatra, Indonesia, which are predicted to generate haze in numerous Asean countries.
Director-general of the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia), Muhammad Helmi Abdullah, stated that several states in east Malaysia would be affected by the effect from Kalimantan.
He stated that this condition are expected to last for a few days.
“The Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) Model output has shown the forecasted haze trajectory for a period of 72 hours, starting from 0000 Coordinated Universal Time (8am) on Sept 30, until 0000 UTC (8am) on Oct 3.
“The trajectory of the haze from Kalimantan is expected to affect Kuching, Serian and Samarahan (in Sarawak) during the forecast period,” he said.
However, Helmi stated that no hotspots for the High Confidence Level category were recorded in peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, or Sarawak based on the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) reported the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 20 (NOAA-20) image satellite recorded.
“In Kalimantan, there were 353 hotspots detected, while in Sumatra, there were 113 hotspots,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ASMC said that moderate to thick smoke plumes were observed traveling northwest from hotspots detected in the southern region of Sumatra.
“Based on the latest satellite image, scattered hotspots were detected in southern Kalimantan and Sumatra, while several hotspots were detected in Sulawesi, Java and Sunda Kecil Islands.
“In Kalimantan, moderate to thick smoke haze was observed in southern Kalimantan and most of central Kalimantan. Haze was also observed moving northeast and to east Kalimantan,” he said.
According to ASMC, air quality stations in central Kalimantan, Sumatra’s southern and central regions, and both regions’ southern regions indicated unhealthy air quality levels.