Share this
Chiang Rai is the northernmost province in Thailand, adjacent to neighboring countries such as Myanmar and Laos. The open burnings for land preparation in an elevated area, especially for Maize plantation in March to April every year, released a large amount of air pollutants, and cause serious effects on the air quality, public health and climate. In this study, the number of hotspots, which represents open fires, was counted and detected by MODIS imagery. The high hotspots density are found in the west of Chiang Rai, where are mountainous, high-elevated and mainly used for maize cultivation. Using HYSPLIT4 Model, the backward trajectories, moved across the south to west, were frequently occurred and analyzed. Consequently, the smoke haze was influenced by the upwind regions. Therefore, the solution for smoke-and-haze problem needs to be conducted with the land utilization. The haze started in Thailand and moved to Lower Mekong countries, the dust spread over the area with the wind directions for thousands of miles. For the sustainable solution, people need to focus on land use by changing from annual crops plantation to other permanent crops such as rubber or coffee, which not only help reducing burnings activities but also maintain the sustainability of the natural resources and environment. © 2018 Greater Mekong Subregion Academic and Research Network, Asian Institute of Technology.
