Ambient Air Concentrations of Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene and Xylene in Bangkok, Thailand during April-August in 2007

Laowagul, Wanna,Garivait, Hathairatana,Limpaseni, Wongpun,Yoshizumi, Kunio Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment 2008 Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment (AJAE) Vol.2 No.1

Benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and m-, p-, and o-xylene, the most influential aromatic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), were measured in Bangkok, Thailand, one of the most rapidly developing urban areas in Southern East Asia. The purpose of this study is to characterize the ambient air quality with respect to above mentioned aromatic compounds. The data were monitored in ten sites which cover roadside area, residential area and background area. Canister technique was used to obtain air sample at 24 hour interval per a month during April-August in 2007. GC/MS with three stage preconcentrator was used to analyze these samples. The average concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene m-, p-xylene and o-xylene are 5.8, 36.1, 4.1, 11.0 and $3.7{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. They were observed to be distributed in a log-normal form. Moreover, o-xylene and m, p-xylene exhibited a very good correlation (r=0.976). The slope of the regression equation between them was 3.07 which consisted with a previous reported value. The average ratio of toluene to benzene was 6.4 in April, May June and August. This value was comparable to the ones measured in other Asian cities. Two types of statistical analyses, cluster and factor analyses, were applied to the data in this study. Well characterization was made to understand the air quality of Bangkok area.

Bottom up Approach to Estimate Air Pollution of Rice Residue Open Burning in Thailand

Penwadee Cheewaphongphan,Savitri Garivait 한국기상학회 2013 Asia-Pacific Journal of Atmospheric Sciences Vol.49 No.2

Rice residue open burning is a farmer activity potentially contributes to global warming. This study was conducted with the objective of examining the spatial and temporal distribution of emissions from rice residue open burning in Thailand by using questionnaire survey and field experimentation. A sample of 1000 Thai farmers was interviewed in order to study the fire behaviours of farmers. One hundred and twenty rice sampling plots were selected for measuring rice residue characteristics. Of the farmer’s fire behaviour,45% of farmer regularly uses prescribed burning technique for land preparation activities. The amount of rice residue was approximately 117.7 Mt. Although nearly 60% of total residue was subjected to burning in the fields, only 15% of rice residue is actually burned in the fields because the residue and soil have high moisture content. The burning emissions are computed at 1.67 Mt of CO, 0.04 Mt of NOx, 0.35 Mt of PM2.5, 0.12 Mt of PM10, and 0.01 Mt of BC. Approximately 30%, 26%, and 17% of all emissions are contributed by the lower-northern, central, and western regions of Thailand, respectively. Moreover, 31% and 30% of all emissions are annually emitted from December to January and April to May over one month periods following each harvesting season. The comparisons of rice residue burning emissions provided by this study and previous studies have found the emissions discovered in this study to range from one to five times higher than the finding of previous studies. This finding demonstrates the importance of the assessment of activity data specific to farming fire characteristics.

Estimating Emissions from Forest Fires in Thailand Using MODIS Active Fire Product and Country Specific Data

Agapol Junpen,Savitri Garivait,Sebastien Bonnet 한국기상학회 2013 Asia-Pacific Journal of Atmospheric Sciences Vol.49 No.3

Studies on air pollution and climate change have shown that forest fires constitute one of the major sources of atmospheric trace gases and particulate matter, especially during the dry season. However, these emissions remain difficult to quantify due to uncertainty on the extent of burned areas and deficient knowledge on the forest fire behaviours in each country. This study aims to estimate emissions from forest fires in Thailand by using the combination of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for active fire products and country-specific data based on prescribed burning experiments. The results indicate that 27817 fire hotspots (FHS) associated with forest fires were detected by the MODIS during 2005-2009. These FHS mainly occurred in the northern, western, and upper north-eastern parts of Thailand. Each year, the most significant fires were observed during January - May, with a peak in March. The majority of forest FHS were detected in the afternoon. According to the prescribed burning experiments, the average area of forest burned per fire event was found to fall within the range 1.09 to 12.47 ha,depending upon the terrain slope and weather conditions. The total burned area was computed at 159309 ha corresponding to the surface biomass fuel of 541515 tons dry matter. The forest fire emissions were computed at 855593 tons of CO2, 56318 tons of CO, 3682 tons of CH4, 108 tons of N2O, 4928 tons of PM2.5, 4603 tons of PM10, 357tons of BC and 2816 tons of OC.

Deposition Process of Sulfate and Elemental Carbon in Japanese and Thai Forests

Sase, Hiroyuki,Matsuda, Kazuhide,Visaratana, Thiti,Garivait, Hathairatana,Yamashita, Naoyuki,Kietvuttinon, Bopit,Hongthong, Bundit,Luangjame, Jesada,Khummongkol, Pojanie,Shindo, Junko,Endo, Tomomi,Sat Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment 2012 Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment (AJAE) Vol.6 No.4

Particulate matter deposited on leaf surfaces may cause erosion/abrasion of epicuticular wax and the malfunction of stomata. However, the deposition processes of particulate matter, such as elemental carbon (EC), has not been studied sufficiently in Asian forest ecosystems. Deposition processes for particulate ${SO_4}^{2-}$ and EC were studied in a Japanese cedar forest in Kajikawa, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, and in a dry evergreen forest and a dry deciduous forest in Sakaerat, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand. The ${SO_4}^{2-}$ fluxes attributed to rainfall outside the forest canopy (RF), throughfall (TF), and stemflow (SF) showed distinct seasonalities at both sites, increasing from November to February at the Kajikawa site and in March/April at the Sakaerat site. Seasonal west/northwest winds in winter may transport sulfur compounds across the Sea of Japan to the Kajikawa site. At the Sakaerat site, pollutants suspended in the air or dry deposits from the dry season might have been washed away by the first precipitations of the wet season. The EC fluxes from RF and TF showed similar variations by season at the Kajikawa site, while the flux from TF was frequently lower than that from RF at the Sakaerat site. Particulate matter strongly adsorbed onto leaf surfaces is not washed away by rainfall and contributes to the EC flux. At the Kajikawa site, Japanese cedar leaf surfaces accumulated the highest levels of particulate matter and could not be neglected when calculating the total flux. When such leaf-surface particles were considered, the contribution of dry deposition to the total EC flux was estimated to be 67%, 77%, and 82% at the Kajikawa site, and at the evergreen and deciduous forests of the Sakaerat site, respectively. Leaf-surface particles must be included when evaluating the dry and total fluxes of particulate matter, in particular for water-insoluble constituents such as EC.

Deposition Process of Sulfate and Elemental Carbon in Japanese and Thai Forests

Hiroyuki Sase,Kazuhide Matsuda,Thiti Visaratana,Hathairatana Garivait,Naoyuki Yamashita,Bopit Kietvuttinon,Bundit Hongthong,Jesada Luangjame,Pojanie Khummongkol,Junko Shindo,Tomomi Endo,Keiichi Sato,S 한국대기환경학회 2012 Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment (AJAE) Vol.6 No.4

Particulate matter deposited on leaf surfaces may cause erosion/abrasion of epicuticular wax and the malfunction of stomata. However, the deposition processes of particulate matter, such as elemental carbon (EC), has not been studied sufficiently in Asian forest ecosystems. Deposition processes for particulate SO42- and EC were studied in a Japanese cedar forest in Kajikawa, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, and in a dry evergreen forest and a dry deciduous forest in Sakaerat, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand. The SO42- fluxes attributed to rainfall outside the forest canopy (RF), throughfall (TF), and stemflow (SF)showed distinct seasonalities at both sites, increasing from November to February at the Kajikawa site and in March/April at the Sakaerat site. Seasonal west/northwest winds in winter may transport sulfur compounds across the Sea of Japan to the Kajikawa site. At the Sakaerat site, pollutants suspended in the air or dry deposits from the dry season might have been washed away by the first precipitations of the wet season. The EC fluxes from RF and TF showed similar variations by season at the Kajikawa site, while the flux from TF was frequently lower than that from RF at the Sakaerat site. Particulate matter strongly adsorbed onto leaf surfaces is not washed away by rainfall and contributes to the EC flux. At the Kajikawa site, Japanese cedar leaf surfaces accumulated the highest levels of particulate matter and could not be neglected when calculating the total flux. When such leaf-surface particles were considered, the contribution of dry deposition to the total EC flux was estimated to be 67%, 77%, and 82% at the Kajikawa site,and at the evergreen and deciduous forests of the Sakaerat site, respectively. Leaf-surface particles must be included when evaluating the dry and total fluxes of particulate matter, in particular for waterinsoluble constituents such as EC.