ScienceMonday, October 26, 20263 min read

Haze in Singapore: Normal PM2.5 and good to moderate 24-hour PSI readings islandwide

By Straits Times Singapore · Published by Everything Blog

In short

The air quality in Singapore remained healthy overnight, with normal PM2.5 readings and good-to-moderate 24-hour PSI levels across all regions. The National Environment Agency (NEA) reported that air quality was better after a week of poor haze, and showers and wet weather were expected to help keep smoke and hotspots down.

Key points

The air quality in Singapore remained healthy overnight.: The air quality in Singapore remained healthy overnight.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) reported that air quality was better after a week o…: The National Environment Agency (NEA) reported that air quality was better after a week of poor haze.
Expected showers and wet weather to help keep smoke and hotspots down.: Expected showers and wet weather to help keep smoke and hotspots down.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

- Singapore’s air stayed healthy overnight, with hourly PM2.5 in the normal range and 24-hour PSI at good to moderate levels across all five regions.

- At 6am on Oct 27, PM2.5 was 14 to 32 and PSI was 62 to 72. The NEA said air was better after weeks of bad haze.

- NEA forecast PSI of 60 to 90 on Oct 27 and said haze risk is low. Showers and wet weather should help keep smoke and hotspots down.

AI generated

SINGAPORE – The air quality here has remained healthy overnight, with the hourly PM2.5 readings remaining in the normal range and the 24-hour PSI in the good-to-moderate band across the island.

At 6am on Oct 27, the one-hour PM2.5 readings in all the five regions of Singapore ranged between 14 and 32, while the 24-hour PSI stood between 62 and 72.

PM2.5 readings are gauged hourly and reflect the current air quality. Scores from zero to 55 represent normal values, and those between 56 and 150 indicate an elevated concentration of fine particles.

Air quality is considered good to moderate when the PSI – a 24-hour rolling average of six key air pollutants – is in the range of zero to 100, and unhealthy when it is in the range of 101 to 200.

When air quality breaches the “unhealthy” threshold, people, especially the elderly, children and those with health issues, should start scaling down outdoor activities.

Following weeks of bad air quality, residents in Singapore saw some respite over the weekend when the PM2.5 levels stood in the normal range for most parts of the country although the 24-hour PSI readings remained unhealthy in some areas.

Forecast for Oct 27

In its daily haze advisory on the evening of Oct 26, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said the PSI for Oct 27 is forecast to be in the good-to-moderate range of 60 to 90.

Smoke haze was observed but confined over Kalimantan on Oct 26, NEA said, adding that it was cloudy over Singapore.

NEA said the likelihood of smoke haze affecting the Republic on Oct 27 is low as prevailing winds are expected to blow from the north-east or south-east. Showers are also expected over and in the vicinity of Singapore.

For Oct 28 and 29, winds are forecast to become variable and showers are expected over Singapore and in the surrounding region.

“The wet conditions should help keep hotspot and smoke haze activity suppressed,” NEA said.

Original source: www.straitstimes.com

More in Science

STAT+: Roche gets a lung cancer win with its KRAS drug divarasib

Roche's drug divarasib has demonstrated significant improvements in treating second-line advanced non-small cell lung cancer, outperforming older KRAS inhibitors from Amgen and Bristol Myers Squibb. This breakthrough is particularly noteworthy for Roche, which has been focusing on developing targeted therapies for lung cancer. The study, presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) meeting, shows promise for patients with KRAS G12C mutations.

1 min read

Commentary: Singapore is doing more heritage studies – but does it have enough experts?

Singapore is expanding its heritage studies, but it may lack the necessary expertise. The National Heritage Board acknowledges the need to build local expertise but has faced increasing urgency as archaeological work becomes part of development-related heritage studies. The problem does not end with the investigation, as conclusions can determine whether more investigation is needed, remains are retained, or development proceeds. A finding that a site has little or no significance is not inherently wrong, but it s…

5 min read

The Exponential Time Hypothesis Is False [pdf]

The Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH) is a widely accepted conjecture in computational complexity theory, suggesting that certain problems cannot be solved significantly faster than the exponential time required for brute force. This groundbreaking result has significant implications for the field of computational complexity and could lead to more efficient algorithms and faster problem-solving methods.

1 min read