The 1997 Southeast Asian haze was a large-scale air quality disaster which occurred during the second half of 1997, its after-effects causing widespread atmospheric visibility and health problems within Southeast Asia. The total costs of the Southeast Asian haze are estimated at US$9 billion due mainly to health care and disruption of air travel and business activities.
The influence of the 1997 fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra on ambient air quality was evident by July and peaked in September/October before weakening by November, when the delayed monsoonal rain extinguished the fires and improved air quality within the region. During the peak episode, satellite imagery (NASA/TOMS aerosol index maps) showed a haze layer which expanded over an area of more than 3 million km², covering large parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan. Its northward extension partially reached Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand. During this period, particulate matter concentrations frequently exceeded national ambient air quality standards. Monthly mean horizontal visibility at most locations in Sumatra and Kalimantan in September was below 1 km and daily maximum visibility was frequently below 100 metres.
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Famous quotes containing the words asian and/or haze:
“Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government; they are not African or Asian or European: they are good or bad.”
—Denis Diderot (1713–1784)
“But before the extremity of the Cape had completely sunk, it appeared like a filmy sliver of land lying flat on the ocean, and later still a mere reflection of a sand-bar on the haze above. Its name suggests a homely truth, but it would be more poetic if it described the impression which it makes on the beholder.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)