Biomass Burning Impacts on Air Quality in Southeast Asia

Biomass burning in Southeast Asia, driven by agricultural residue clearance, forest fires and peatland drainage, releases vast quantities of gases and particulate matter into the atmosphere each year. The seasonal peak in fire activity—typically between February and April—leads to marked increases in surface concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. These emissions alter atmospheric composition, reduce visibility and exacerbate respiratory and cardiovascular conditions in urban and rural populations alike. Long‐range transport of smoke plumes can degrade air quality as far afield as southern China and the northern Philippines, while aerosol–cloud interactions influence local weather patterns and radiative balances. Interannual variability is modulated by meteorological drivers such as sea‐surface temperature anomalies and regional circulation changes. Over the past two decades, integrated observations, satellite retrievals and chemical transport modelling have advanced our understanding of emission sources, plume evolution and downwind impacts, informing mitigation strategies and transboundary air‐quality management.

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Biomass Burning Impacts on Air Quality in Southeast Asia publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in biomass burning impacts on air quality in southeast asia across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

PM2.5: Particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 micrometres, capable of deep lung penetration and linked to health risks.

Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD): A dimensionless measure of the column‐integrated light extinction by aerosols, indicative of particulate loading.

WRF‐Chem: A coupled meteorology–chemistry model that simulates emission, transport and chemical transformation of atmospheric species.

Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF): A receptor modelling technique used to apportion observed pollutant concentrations to source categories.

Black Carbon (BC): Light‐absorbing carbonaceous aerosol from incomplete combustion, influencing radiative forcing and health.

References

1. Spring biomass burning in Indochina enhances summer Yangtze River Valley rainfall through land–atmosphere interactions. npj Climate and Atmospheric Science (2023).
2. Indian Ocean temperature anomalies modulate the interannual variability of springtime smoke aerosols over the Indochina Peninsula. Environmental Research Letters (2024).
3. Effects of transport on a biomass burning plume from Indochina during EMeRGe-Asia identified by WRF-Chem. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (2023).
4. Multi-Source Satellite and WRF-Chem Analyses of Atmospheric Pollution from Fires in Peninsular Southeast Asia. Remote Sensing (2023).
5. Influence of biomass burning on local air pollution in mainland Southeast Asia from 2001 to 2016. Environmental Pollution (2019).