Strategy Design of PM 2..5 Controlling in North Chiang Mai

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.220432
Strategy Design of PM2.5 Controlling for Northern

Thailand
Aerosol and Air Quality
Research
Karuna Jainontee1, Prapat Pongkiatkul2, Ying-Lin Wang3,4*, Roy J.F. Weng5,
Special Issue: Yi-Ting Lu5, Ting-Shiuan Wang6, Wang-Kun Chen7
2022 Asian Aerosol Conference
(AAC 2022) (V) 1
Faculty of Science and Agricultural Technology, Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna,
Chiang Rai, Thailand
2
Department of Environmental Engineering, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi,
Bangkok 10140, Thailand
3
School of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan
4
Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617,
Taiwan
5
Cameo Inc., Taipei 10066, Taiwan
6
Department of Resources Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan
7
Southeast Bangkok College, Krung Thep Mana Nakhon, Thailand
ABSTRACT
The emission of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in dry season from the open biomass burning
has caused a long-term negative impact on residents’ health in Northern Thailand. This study
takes Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces in Northern Thailand as the study areas to identify
pollution episodes, analyze PM2.5 source trajectories, and finally propose pollution control strategies
accordingly. PM2.5 levels during 2019–2021 of three representative air pollution monitoring
stations (i.e., Chaing Mai-35T, Chiang Rai-57T, and Mae Sai-73T) in these two provinces were
collected and analyzed. The Air Quality Index (AQI) defined by PM2.5 level higher than 91 µg m–3
causing serious adverse health effects was adopted to define periods having pollution levels, and
the days of the air pollution episodes were identified. Based on these episodes, we applied the
OPEN ACCESS backward trajectory model to identify the sources of pollutants. Results showed that PM2.5 levels
were significantly higher between February to April compared with other months during 2019–
2021 at all three monitoring stations, indicating the severity of PM2.5 episode during the dry
Received: January 12, 2023 season. The backward trajectory demonstrated that air mass transported through the Northern
Revised: March 19, 2023 Thailand or nearby mountain areas (categorized as long- or short-transport-distance) contributed
Accepted: March 28, 2023 up to 21.6% and 75.9% of the total air mass, respectively. Although residents in these mountainous
areas are accustomed to the biomass burning, we suggested that there should be urgent needs
* Corresponding Author: for the improvement of the long-term air quality in these two provinces. Therefore, this study
lynn12783@gmail.com
proposes some control strategies including improvement of prevention knowledge, increase of the
Publisher: risk perception, cultivation of the protection behavior, and intensification of the social influence. In
Taiwan Association for Aerosol addition to reducing biomass burning pollution, this improvement plan also has a co-benefit of
Research achieving resources recycling concomitantly. Providing effective management strategies may
ISSN: 1680-8584 print reduce the adverse health effects to Thai residents.
ISSN: 2071-1409 online
Keywords: Northern Thailand, Fine particulate matter, Pollution episode, HYSPLIT model, Control
Copyright: The Author(s). strategy
This is an open access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License (CC BY 4.0), which permits 1 INTRODUCTION
unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium,
provided the original author and Thailand is a country founded on tourism. The annual tourism revenue accounts for more than
source are cited. 20% of its annual GDP (Statistica, 2022). Besides Phuket in the south and Pattaya in the middle,
Aerosol and Air Quality Research | https://aaqr.org 1 of 22 Volume 23 | Issue 6 | 220432

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Special Issue on 2022 Asian Aerosol Conference (AAC 2022) (V) https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.220432
Northern Thailand is the most important tourist areas. The northern region includes places such
as Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, and Mae Sai. Because of the pleasant climate, highland-mountains
geography, special Lanna cultures, and fewer industry coupled with the attractive mountain
scenery in Northern Thailand, the unique agrotourism has long been the favorite for tourists who
come here every year (Chaiphan and Patterson, 2016).
However, in March and April every year (dry season), the air pollution caused by the biomass
burning from the northern mountains has become a lingering nightmare for the sightseeing of
residents living in Northern Thailand at night due to the dust particles such as particulate matter
(PM10) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (Junpen et al., 2018; Pasukphun, 2018; Punsompong
and Chantara, 2018). PM10 denote particles with an aerodynamic diameter below 10 µm, whereas
PM2.5 are finer particles with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 µm. These particles are
the results of open burning, where farmers in Northern Thailand burn the indica after the crops
being harvested in during the dry season. The agricultural wastes are turned into ashes as fertilizer.
For years, this method of disposing the agricultural wastes has been the habit for farmers here
(Visvanathan and Chiemchaisri, 2008; Silalertruksa and Gheewala, 2013), due to the convenience
of solving agricultural residues on the spot without any cost. Although there have been many
literatures discussing the pollution caused by biomass burning in this area (Li et al., 2022), these
problems still have not been seriously dealt with.
Biomass burning is also the main source of air pollution in the Indo-China Peninsula (Pani et
al., 2016, 2019), originating mainly from Myanmar, Northern Thailand, Laos, Northern Vietnam,
and so on (ChooChuay et al., 2022). Many scholars have investigated the transnational pollution
transport in Northern Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and other places. The ‘‘Seven Seas Project’’
chaired by Lin's co-organized scholars from many countries have used satellite observation to
study the area to understand the phenomenon of transnational transmission of biomass burning
(Sayer et al., 2016). Their research pointed out that the transport of biomass burning pollutants
in this area is far from the mountainous areas of Bangladesh, and can span the mountainous
areas of Northern Thailand, Southern China, Northern Vietnam, the South China Sea, and to
Taiwan and the East China Sea (Lin et al., 2013, 2014).
PM2.5 is the most important air pollutant which can cause adverse health impact to human. It can
enter the human body via the respiratory tract and lead to adverse pulmonary and cardiovascular
effects, birth outcomes, and so on (Feng et al., 2016; Yang et al., 2022). In many countries, PM2.5
mainly comes from combustion sources such as industries and vehicle emissions (Khodeir et al.,
2012; Pui et al., 2014; Ryou et al., 2018). However, the sources of high concentration of PM2.5
found in Northern Thailand every dry season of the year were different from those in other
countries. A number of studies revealed that most of the PM2.5 in Northern Thailand are the
results of open burning including forest fires and burning of agro-residues (Chantara et al., 2012;
Phairuang et al., 2019; Xing et al., 2020). Phairuang et al. (2017) also investigated the influence
of agriculture activity, forest fire, and agro-industries on air quality for the provinces of the upper
northern, lower northern, and northeast in Thailand. The backward trajectory analysis of the air
mass arriving at the Pollution Control Department (PCD) station was calculated to understand
this influence. Results showed that garbage burning in the rural area, crop residue burning, and
forest fires were the major sources of biomass burning emission in Northern Thailand (Phairuang
et al., 2017). Langmann et al. (2009) and Yin et al. (2019) also reported that particles emitted
from vegetation fires would cause profound impacts on air quality than those from other regional
emission sources. However, Yadav et al. (2017) pointed out that transport of pollutants from
other countries could be another major factor causing the pollution in Northern Thailand.
Surrounded by high mountains and coincidentally characterized by specific meteorological
conditions (e.g., calming winds and temperature inversion) the Northern Thailand is prone to the
stagnation of the air mass and the accumulation of air pollutants, which make it the most
impacted area in Thailand during the dry season (Pani et al., 2018). Besides, the transboundary
of PM2.5 from different borders, Myanmar, Laos, and India, are nonnegligible (Khamkaew et al.,
2016; Amnuaylojaroen et al., 2020). The government of Thailand implemented a “zero-burning”
plan since 2013, aiming to control the open burning in the nine provinces of Northern Thailand
during dry season. However, although the open burning activities and the PM2.5 could be reduced
from March to April, this policy prolonged the smoke haze situation from two months to three

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
months (from March to May) (Wen et al., 2020; Yabueng et al., 2020). Additionally, farmers still
need to clear out the land field by open burning after the zero-burning time range limit, so the
zero-burning can improve situation of high smog but not a sustainable way (Adeleke et al., 2017).
Therefore, the episode periods of hazardous PM2.5 and control methods for PM2.5 in Northern
Thailand are still worthy of our attention in this study.
Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, and Mae Sai in Northern Thailand were the target areas of this study.
Monthly civil registration demographics from Office of Registration Administration (ORA) in the
Department of Provincial Administration (DPA) reported that the population density of Muang
Chiang Mai, Muang Chiang Rai, and Mae Sai District in 2021 was 93, 90, and 250 people km–2,
respectively (DPA, 2021; MOI, 2020a, 2020b). The air pollution monitoring stations in Mae Sai
and dominant districts of Muang Chiang Rai and Muang Chiang Mai represent the border community
and urban areas, individually. Chiang Rai, which shares the border with Laos and Myanmar, is
mainly located in the northernmost province of Northern Thailand. In general, Chiang Rai is known
for having a pristine atmosphere for around 9 to 10 months each year, and yet its air quality
drastically deteriorates during the period of biomass burning (Pongpiachan et al., 2013). Mae Sai
district mainly locates in the northernmost district of Chiang Rai province in Northern Thailand,
highest level of smoke haze has been observed in March, 2016 (Pasukphun, 2018). Meanwhile, Mae
Sai is an area where border economy is shared between Thailand and Myanmar, which could also
suffer from the air pollutants generated from transportation and waste. Lastly, Chiang Mai is the
second largest province in terms of population and the main tourist attraction city in Northern
Thailand, attracting over seven million visitors every year (Kitirianglarp, 2015; Pani et al., 2018).
However, because of its mountainous geographical features, the problem of haze from wildfire
emission in March and April has caused severe environmental and health impacts, reduced the
visibility, and hindered the development of the tourism industry (ChooChuay et al., 2022;
Viswanathan et al., 2006; Xiao et al., 2014).
Therefore, this article aims at exploring the main cause of air pollution in the region and provide
pollution control strategies for improving air quality in Northern Thailand. Based on the above
the motivations, several research questions raised as follows. First, what are the main pollution
sites and main pollutants in Northern Thailand? Second, where do these pollutants come from
and can the sources of pollution at that time be traced based on the time when the maximum
concentration of pollution occurred? Third, are there any effective methods that can assist in
solving or controlling the sources or formation of these air pollutants? Briefly, the objectives of
this study are shown below: (1) to find out the PM2.5 pollution episode in Northern Thailand; (2) to
track the source of the PM2.5 pollution using HYSPLIT model; and (3) to provide the possible
pollution control strategy in Northern Thailand.
2 METHODS
2.1 Episode Time Analysis

The air pollution index (AQI) defined by Pollution Control Department (PCD), Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment (MNRE), Thailand was based on the AQI system of U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), which was calculated by converting measured air pollutants
concentrations into a uniform index (Kanchan et al., 2015). The air pollutants include PM2.5, PM10,
ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2), which is shown
in Table 1. The AQI is also classified into five levels according to the degree of health implications
of each pollutant (Li et al., 2022). The baseline for the identification of pollution episode was set
as the level of pollutants started to become into toxic condition and the time range of toxic
condition higher than baseline was selected and defined as episode (Luo et al., 2022).
We found in the data base of PCD that PM2.5 of all the monitoring stations, which was obtained
using the gravimetric method based on Federal Reference Method (FRM) proposed by the U.S.
EPA (U.S. EPA, 2011), was more available and missed the fewest data points comparing to other
criteria air pollutants (i.e., PM10, O3, CO, NO2, and SO2). Meanwhile, the AQI calculated by
considering the health effects of PM2.5, PM10, O3, CO, NO2, and SO2 was not covered at all stations
of PCD database, while the most complete index for evaluation of the air quality is PM2.5 in

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Table 1. Concentration of air pollutants equivalent to the AQI value in Thailand.

PM2.5 (µg m–3) PM10 (µg m–3) O3 (ppb) CO (ppm) NO2 (ppb) SO2 (ppb)
AQI 24-hour 24-hour 8-hour 8-hour 1-hour 1-hour
average average average average average average
Level 0: Excellence 0–25 0–25 0–50 0–35 0–4.4 0–60 0–100
Level 1: Satisfactory 26–50 26–37 51–80 36–50 4.5–6.4 61–106 101–200
Level 2: Moderate 51–100 38–50 81–120 51–70 6.5–9.0 107–170 201–300
Level 3: Unhealthy 101–200 51–90 121–180 71–120 9.1–30.0 171–340 301–400
Level 4: Very unhealthy > 200 ≥ 91 ≥ 181 ≥ 121 ≥ 30.1 ≥ 341 ≥ 401
Thailand. The procedure of PM2.5 gravimetric analysis was conducted based on the method provided
by U.S. EPA (2008). Firstly, the flow rate of an air sampling instrument should be calibrated using
the primary air flow meter. Filters were pre-conditioned before the sampling, while environmental
temperature and pressure of air sampling instrument should also be calibrated before sampling
of PM2.5. The microbalance should be routinely checked by using certified mass standards before
the filters were weighed. Finally, field, laboratory, trip, and lot blanks were also weighed for
quality assurance purposes. The Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) for data used in
this study was performed via preliminary data exploration by filtering and selecting only similar
range of monitoring time during 2019–2021, where data from those three stations are the most
complete to explore PM2.5 episodes. The missing values (NA) were handled using na.approx in R
statistics programing to replace NA by interpolation. NA approximation was performed to manage
NULL values (Faybishenko et al., 2021).
PCD database defined the value of PM2.5 higher than 91 µg m–3 as very unhealthy to human
(Table 1), which was also the threshold value of PM2.5 to classify the episode of poor air quality
in this study. The daily PM2.5 in 2019–2021 of the three representative stations (i.e., Chaing Mai-
35T, Chiang Rai-57T, and Mae Sai-73T) of Northern Thailand was chosen and the AQI in each year
of the stations were clustered by level of PM2.5 concentration using conditional formatting in
Microsoft Excel. The time zone of poor air quality (i.e., the concentration of PM2.5 higher than
91 µg m–3) was selected to visualize the PM2.5 episodes (Plaia and Ruggieri, 2011; Liu et al., 2022;
Zaib et al., 2022).
2.2 Back Trajectory Analysis

2.2.1 HYSPLIT model and cluster analysis
In order to identify the air pollution trajectory, the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated
Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), USA was applied. The HYSPLIT model uses either puff or particle approaches to obtain
the air pollution trajectories, dispersion, and deposition. This model associates the mass of a
particular specie (pollutant) with the release of either puffs, particles, or a combination of both
to calculate air concentrations. Air concentrations are calculated for each grid cell of advection
and diffusion, and the advection and diffusion of particles are computed from their initial location.
In this study, the raw-data-based method was used for the air pollutant trajectory clustering. The
K-means cluster analysis based on the Euclidean distance to divide the air pollutant trajectories
into categories (Šauliene and Veriankaite, 2006; Zhang et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2022).
The 5-day backward trajectory analysis using a HYSPLIT model was performed based on the
NCEP/NCAR Global Reanalysis Archive meteorological data, available online at http://www.arl.
noaa.gov/ready/hysplit4.html. The data consisted of daily and monthly atmospheric model
output from 1948 to near present. It included 17 pressure levels and 28 sigma levels with spatial
coverage of 2.5 degree × 2.5 degree global grid. The surface and near-surface data consisted of
wind speed, wind direction, temperature, and precipitation, where were available for every
6 hours (Aerospace Corporation, 2023).

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Frequency of the Episodes in Northern Thailand

3.1.1 Levels of PM2.5
The air quality monitoring data were obtained from the PCD of Thailand, which have established
at least three monitoring stations in each province of the country. PCD data source of daily PM2.5
in 2019–2021 of the three studied air quality monitoring stations in Northern Thailand was
selected to characterize the PM2.5 in those areas and identified the periods where pollution
episodes occurred. Station number 35T (18°50′14.2′′N, 98°58′15.2′′E) was selected based on the
representative of urban and main city in the northern part of Thailand. Station number 57T
(19°54′35.6′′N, 99°49′24.4′′E) was selected to be the presenter of secondary city and rural
communities. Besides, Station 73T (20°30′33.6′′N, 99°54′27.4′′E) was selected to be the presenter of
border communities.
The data collection and sorting of the daily PM2.5 for the three stations in 2019–2021 was performed
using conditional formatting in Microsoft Excel (data is not shown). The period that people in
Northern Thailand suffering from the poor air quality was obtained in a long period of the very
unhealthy zone of the three stations that selected as the range of the beginning of unhealthy AQI
starting until the last day in the considered year. Distinct colored label was given for each AQI criteria
to show characteristic of air quality in each year. For example, the AQI Level 4 was marked in red,
which is characterized by a “very unhealthy” period during the whole sampling time (Table 2).
The data for the 35T-Chaing-Mai station in 2019–2021 were obtain during March-11 to April-
13, February-28 to April-12, and March-3 to April-3, summing up to a total day range of 34, 45,
and 32, for year 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively. Notably in 2020, the 35T-Chaing-Mai station
witnessed a high concentration of PM2.5 which lasted 1–2 weeks longer than those for year 2019
and 2021. Overall, the “very unhealthy” period occupied around 76%, 51%, and 31% of the total
observation days during year 2019, 2020, and 2021, individually. Previous studies pointed out
haze period was observed from March to April in upper Southeast Asia (SEA), resulting in high
PM2.5 concentrations in the dry season (Sresawasd et al., 2021; Pani et al., 2019; Thepnuan et al.,
2019). Furthermore, the MODIS satellite detected a total of 10,343 fire hotspot over nine provinces
of Northern Thailand in 2019, while 9,859 of them occurred from January to May (Chinsorn and
Papong, 2021). Although the high PM2.5 level was observed during the haze period, there was at
times some haze periods with the weather turning into better conditions, which was similar to
that shown by Sresawasd et al. (2021). In their study, Sresawasd et al. (2021) pointed that PM
concentration can be reduced sometimes because of high wind speeds and precipitation favored.
Chantara et al. (2009) showed the pattern of PM10 in Chiang Mai and Lamphun Provinces in
2005–2006 increased at the beginning of dry season (December) and reached its peak in March
Table 2. Frequency of different PM2.5 AQI Level of the selected stations in 2019–2021.
The period with unhealthy AQI Frequency of AQI in ‘‘selected range’’
Year
Start date End date Day range Very unhealthy Unhealthy Moderate Satisfactory Excellent ND
35T-Chaing-Mai station
2019 March-11 April-13 34 26 8 0 0 0 0
2020 February-28 April-12 45 23 16 3 0 0 3
2021 March-3 April-3 32 10 20 2 0 0 0
57T-Chiang-Rai station
2019 March-14 May-3 51 23 24 4 0 0 0
2020 February-17 April-9 53 28 21 4 0 0 0
2021 March-8 April-4 28 8 17 2 1 0 0
73T-Mai-Sai station
2019 March-11 May-3 54 42 8 0 2 0 2
2020 February-16 April-10 55 39 14 1 0 0 1
2021 March-1 April-24 55 35 8 6 4 2 0

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
before decreasing by the end of April. The situation of high episodes of PM2.5 in 2019-2021 in this
study had similar trend of PM10 at Chiang Mai station. Moreover, Punsompong and Chantara (2018)
utilized the potential source contribution function (PSCF) to study emission sources of PM10 at
Chaing Mai station in the dry season (February–April) between year 2010 to 2015. The results
indicated that 26.8% and 73.2% contribution of emission were found from local of Chaing Mai and
transboundary from Myanmar, respectively. During the years 2010–2015, the two major burning
sources in March and April which were related to PM2.5 episode at Chaing Mai station were mainly
found in agricultural areas and forested areas of Myanmar, while agricultural areas of Thailand
contributed to the PM10 concentration in Northern Thailand was in February. Kraisitnitikul et al.
(2024) also pointed out the average PM2.5 concentration of smoke haze episode in warm El Niño
year (2019) was much higher than that in cold La Niña year (2017) in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which
could be resulted from the differences in climatic conditions and other related meteorological
factors.
The trend of the distribution of AQI from PM2.5 of station 57T-Chiang-Rai in 2019–2021 was
similar to that at station 35T-Chaing-Mai. In year 2021, the periods with AQI value classified as
“very unhealthy” lasted around two weeks shorter than those in years 2019 and 2020. The data
for the 57T-Chiang-Rai station in 2019–2021 were obtained during March-14 to May-3, February-
17 to April-9, and March-8 to April-4, summing up to a total day range of 51, 53, and 28, for years
2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively. Overall, the “very unhealthy” period occupied around 45, 53,
and 29% of the total observation days during years 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively. For both
station 35T-Chaing-Mai and 57T-Chiang-Rai, it was shown that the occurrence frequencies of the
worst pollution level had been decreased since 2021. Luong et al. (2022) assessed the influence
of biomass burning sources on PM2.5 level from Hanoi, Vietnam, and Chaing Rai, Thailand during
January to April in 2021 using the integrated approach of PM2.5 in-situ measurement, receptor
and trajectory modelling techniques, and satellite remote sensing. This work also presented that
PM2.5 level measured in the sampling site in Chaing Rai was raised from March to April, which
was related to the intensive biomass burning activities in the SEA area.
The characteristics of the pollution level for the 73T-Mai Sai station in 2019–2021 were not
significantly different in each year. The data for the 73T-Mai Sai station in 2019–2021 were
obtained during March-11 to May-3, February-16 to April-10, and March-1 to April-24, summing
up to a total day range of 54, 55, and 55, for years 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively. Overall,
the “very unhealthy” period occupied around 78, 71, and 64% of the total observation days during
years 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively. From February to April in 2008–2010, Sukitpaneenit and
Kim Oanh (2014) reported that daily CO and PM10 were correlated with the forest fire hotspot
counts, especially in the rural areas (i.e., Chiang Rai, Maehongson, Lampang, and Nan provinces).
Janta et al. (2020) evaluated the air quality in 8 provinces of Northern Thailand based on the
hourly data of PM10 mass concentration at 13 monitoring stations derived from PCD database and
hotspot data from NASA’s Earth Observatory website during 2006 to 2016. It appeared the same
pattern every year, besides, the high levels of hotspot and PM10 were also found in biomass season
with the highest one in March. Hongthong et al. (2022) investigated the emission inventory of
daily, monthly, and annual PM10 and PM2.5 from biomass burning in 9 provinces of Northern
Thailand adjacent to the border of Myanmar and Laos during 2012–2016, appearing a clearly
higher PM emission during February-April compared with other months in the investigate years.
We also performed the Pearson correlation on PM2.5 level among eight air pollution monitoring
stations (Table 3). High correlation (r = 0.65–0.98, p < 0.001) among the PM2.5 levels were found
in the Northern Thailand. It means that the emission sources of PM2.5 were not located in one area
but covered the whole area of Northern Thailand, showing the importance of the transboundary
pollution transport here which would be discussed in Sect. 3.2.
3.1.2 Episode
The visualization of the day range is shown below with the PM2.5 AQI Level of “very unhealthy”
marked by the dash box. These time periods were also denoted as the time where episode occurred.
In this research, the data of PM2.5 at the selected stations was obtained during year 2019–2021,
and the episode selections were performed by directly plotting on a year-by-year basis, which
are shown Fig. 1 through Fig. 3.

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Table 3. The correlation analysis of PM2.5 levels in Northern Thailand.

35T 36T 57T 67T 68T 69T 70 73T
Chiang Mai Chiang Mai Chiang Rai Nan Lamphun Phrae Phayao Chiang Rai
35T Chiang Mai 1.00
36T Chiang Mai 0.98** 1.00
57T Chiang Rai 0.88** 0.88** 1.00
67T Nan 0.87** 0.87** 0.81** 1.00
68T Lamphun 0.89** 0.89** 0.75** 0.82** 1.00
69T Phrae 0.77** 0.79** 0.68** 0.90** 0.82** 1.00
70 Phayao 0.90** 0.91** 0.87** 0.92** 0.82** 0.86** 1.00
73T Chiang Rai 0.87** 0.87** 0.91** 0.80** 0.72** 0.65** 0.80** 1.00
Fig. 1. The episode selection for the station 35T-Chiang-Mai in 2019–2021. The unit of PM2.5 in y-axis is µg m–3.
Fig. 2. The episode selection for the station 57T-Chiang-Rai in 2019–2021. The unit of PM2.5 in y-axis is µg m–3.
From Fig. 1, the result of the PM2.5 episode selection for 35T-Chiang Mai station during 2019–
2021 consisted of three periods in 2019 (March 9–March 17, March 21–March 26, and March
28–April 8); three periods in 2020 (March13-March15, March18–23 and April 3–April 7); and two
periods in 2021 (March 5–March 12 and April 1–April 5). Amnuaylojaroen (2022) reported the
seasonal variation of PM2.5 in Chiang Mai, Lampang, and Nan provinces of Northern Thailand by
separating PM2.5 monitoring data into two seasons (wet season: May–October; dry season:
November–April). The PM2.5 concentrations in dry seasons was shown higher than those found
in wet seasons.
From Fig. 2, the result of the PM2.5 episode selection for the 57T-Chiang-Rai station during
2019–2021 consisted of five periods in 2019 (March 13–March 18, March 20–March 26, March
29–April 4, April 11–April 18, and April 29–May 4); three periods in 2020 (March 9–March 22,
March 22–April 1, and April 3–April 10); and two periods in 2021 (March 7–March 11 and March
29–April 6).
From Fig. 3, the result of PM2.5 episode selection for the 73T-Mae-Sai station during 2019–
2021 consisted of five periods in 2019 (March 10–March 18, March 19–March 27, March 29–

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Fig. 3. The episode selection for the station 73T-Mae Sai in 2019–2021. The unit of PM2.5 in y-axis is µg m–3.
April 8, April 8–April 18, and April 28–May 4); four periods in 2020 (March 6–March 11, March
11–March 17, March 17–March 22, and March 22–April 11); and four periods in 2021 (March 4–
March 15, March 16–March 23, March 27–4 April, and April 19–April 26).
The episodes of air pollution among different months can be analyzed using the analysis of
variance (ANOVA). The analysis showed the same trend of visualization of episode selection. The
results of the average PM2.5 data from Station 57T and 73 T in Chiang Rai province were shown
Tables S1 and S2. The ANOVA analysis showed independently differences in the mean concentrations
of PM2.5 for February, March and April, as compared to the means of other remaining months.
March was the month with the highest PM2.5 concentrations. This can confirm the significance of
PM2.5 episode during the dry season in Chiang Rai province. On the other hand, Table S3 shows
the results at Station 35T in Chiang-Mai, appearing that PM2.5 episodes also mainly occurred in
dry season.
3.2 Pollution Source and Trajectory of Air Pollution in the Episode Time
A total of 245 airmass backward trajectories were generated at 1,000-meter height from the
ground level on the episode days to assess the potential sources of long-range transport PM2.5
from a period of 2019–2021. This start level (1,000-meter height) is the average daytime mixing
height for Thailand. However, a preliminary analysis comparing different starting heights (0, 100,
300, 500, 1000 meters) showed that the trajectories obtained from 500- and 1000-meter start
points were almost agreed together (75% matched with a test data on January 2019). On the
other hand, air mass trajectories having the start height lower than 500-meter height may be
short and interfered by more local pollution sources. The results during the high PM2.5 episodes
found that the airmass transport in a short distance due to the influence of high pressure from
the North of Thailand, as mentioned in the previous section. The K-means cluster analysis was
also conducted to group the type of air mass resolved by the model. Locations of the airmass
from 245 trajectories (in latitude and longitude) for every 6 hours were input into the SPSS
statistical program for the analysis.
The results of K-means cluster analysis found that the air mass backward trajectory can be
divided into 2 separated groups based on their movement during the Chiang Rai’s episode, which
is shown in Fig. 4. The first group was the air mass that commonly transport from a long distance
passing through the Northern Thailand (account for around 21.6% of the total air mass trajectories
during the episode), while the air mass in second group transported from other nearby mountain
areas with a shorter distance (account around 75.9% of the total air mass trajectories during the
episode). Average PM2.5 concentration estimated from the days with long distance trajectories in
the first group (156.8 µg m–3) was slightly higher than the second one (141.7 µg m–3), similarly
with their standard deviations. Details air mass trajectories from each group are presented in
Fig. S1 to Fig. S3 of the supplementary material. The results suggested that transboundary might
be an issue in the target area.
Sirithian and Thanatrakolsri (2022) elaborated that the main contributor of hotspot locations
was found from upwind neighboring provinces, i.e., Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, and
Nan provinces, which accounted for 65% of hotspots. The minor contributor was from neighboring
countries (i.e., Myanmai). The distribution of the two contributors was comparable to the results

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Fig. 4. Comparison between PM2.5 concentrations estimated from the groups of air mass
trajectories generated by the K-mean cluster analysis.
of this study. Amnuaylojaroen et al. (2020) presented the backward trajectory map of PM2.5 in
Northern Thailand during high biomass burning episodes, showing one channel was originated
from the Northeast Thailand, and the other one was from other neighboring countries, including
some parts of India, Eastern China, Northern Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. Among these countries,
Myanmar and Laos respectively contributed 37% and 28% of hotspot locations, which were the
two highest of all countries in Southest Asia. The evaluation of pollution sources in Northern
Thailand from this study and the previous ones urge the development of strategical air quality
management plan for this region, which is still lacking till this day. In Sect. 3.3, we attemp to
propose some management strategies to improve the air quality in Northern Thailand.
3.3 Air Quality Management Strategy

The improvement of air quality requires collaboration between experts from different fields.
Shi et al. (2014) pointed out the strategy can be divided into the following eight categories,
including (a) monitoring, inventory and assessment; (b) scientific research; (c) policy formulation,
implementation and evaluation; (d) regulatory instrument; (e) economic incentives; (f) information,
education, and societal empowerment; (g) technology development and deployment; and (h) social
norms. Based on the results of previous studies, we propose a pollution prevention and control
strategy in Northern Thailand, citing the theory of planning behavior, as shown in Fig. 5 (Ajzen,
1988, 1991; Armitage et al., 2002; Godin and Kok, 1996). The whole control strategy of this theory
is composed of four aspects, namely prevention knowledge, risk perception, protection behavior,
and social influence. It is hereby explained as follows.
3.3.1 Control Strategy A: Improve the prevention knowledge

Having sufficient prevention knowledge is the basis for successful pollution prevention and
control. The main prevention knowledge includes three parts, including source abatement, biomass
reutilization, and waste reduction. These three parts all involve quite advanced technology, so it
depends on academic institutions and technical consulting institutions to continue to handle relevant
training courses to make the technology of pollution prevention and control truly implement.
(1) Strategy A.1: Source abatement

One of the control strategies is source abatement, which is to effectively reduce the pollution
emissions of biomass burning. Intra et al. (2010) and Moran et al. (2019) found that the use of
different combustion and agriculture operation methods can effectively reduce the pollution
emissions of reproductive combustion. Therefore, by teaching local farmers effective low-pollution
combustion methods, the pollution emissions of biomass combustion in Northern Thailand can
be reduced to a small extent.

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Fig. 5. Strategy map of Northern Thailand biomass burning pollution prevention.
The intensification of agricultural operations to meet these growing demands is associated

with a number of environmental and human health risks. Udeigwe et al. (2015) therefore broadly
identified agricultural practices with potentially negative impacts on the environment and human
health as: (a) use of biosolids and animal manure, (b) use of agrochemicals, (c) management of
post-harvest residues, (d) irrigation, and (e) tillage operations. In addition, soil, water and air
pollution from nutrients, heavy metals, pathogens, and pesticides, as well as air pollution from
PM10, toxic gases, and pathogens are the main environmental impacts. Therefore, in order to
reduce the harm of biomass burning, it is necessary to continue to teach them these concepts.
(2) Strategy A.2: Biomass reutilization

The second control strategy is biomass reutilization. Farmers have no choice but to dispose of
agricultural waste biomass in the most convenient way because they do not know that biomass
is actually a good resource for reuse. Besides, biomass open burning in Northern Thailand would
also cause severe air pollution. Therefore, if the biomass could be converted into biofuel, it will
provide the high economic value. Sun et al. (2016) proposed some recommendation. For example,
straw returning can improve soil organic matter content and texture as well as avoid air pollution
from biomass burning. Additionally, it can also improve straw utilization efficiency such as straw
gasification. Cations, biomethanation, and crop straw power generation are also benefits brought
by this scheme at the same time. The commercial application of biomass energy is also a strategy
to be considered. However, in order to implement these policies, decision makers should consider
various conditions, including the local economic level, energy utilization, living conditions of
residents, and other environmental factors.
(3) Strategy A.3: Waste reduction

The third control strategy is waste reduction. The source of biomass burning is from agricultural
wastes. If the agricultural waste was reduced, the relative amount of air pollution will naturally
decrease. Since there were fewer farming areas in Northern Thailand, the agricultural cost was

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
also less. However, due to a large number of farmers cutting down forests to plant cash crops
recently, there is a problem of burning agricultural wastes after harvesting. Therefore, not cutting
down forests indiscriminately and replanting cash crops arbitrarily is the solution to the root
cause. In this way, due to the reduction of agricultural wastes, the amount of air pollution caused
by burning agricultural waste will naturally also be reduced.
Introducing Conservation Agriculture Technologies can reduce the air pollutants emission.
Conservation agriculture (CA) is an agricultural system that restores degraded land, prevents loss of
cultivated land, promotes the maintenance of permanent soil cover, uses minimal soil disturbance,
and preserves diverse plant species. CA helps to increase water and nutrient use efficiency and
can improve and maintain crop production (Fouzai et al., 2018; Lahmar et al., 2012). CA principles
are applied to all agricultural landscapes and land uses, and employ locally adapted practices.
Soil interventions (such as soil mechanical disturbance) are reduced to an absolute minimum or
avoided, and external inputs (such as agrochemicals and plant nutrients of mineral or organic
origin) are optimally applied in such a way and in amounts that they do not interfere with or
disrupt biological processes. In addition, CA reduces the demand of wastes burning. It promotes
good agronomy, such as timely handling, and improves overall land management for rainfed and
irrigated production. This is complemented by other known good practices, including the use of
high-quality seeds and integrated management of pests, diseases, nutrients, weeds, and water.
Undoubtedly, the use of CA technology also reduces the emission of air pollutants.
3.3.2 Control Strategy B: Increase the risk perception

Air pollution is mainly caused by human's polluting behaviors (Lin et al., 2017) because they
do not know the influence of air pollution caused by such behaviors, which was called air pollution
risk perception. With sufficient risk perception, people will naturally cease the pollution-related
behaviors. Information disclosure is viewed as an effective way to improve people’s risk perception,
which can be performed mainly through three methods. The first is to make the public understand
the danger of pollution, the second to improve the civil attitude of the entire community, and
the third to form the group opinion of the public in the community.
(1) Strategy B.1: Pollution awareness

One of the strategies to improve the risk perception is to make the public understand the danger
of air pollution. It depends on not only the propaganda of school teachers at all levels, but the
information disclosure of air quality monitoring information. After the actual interviews of the
research group, it was found that the residents are aware of the phenomenon of biomass burning
here, and they all feel that the biomass burning causes inconvenience to their lives and physical
discomfort. However, they have not yet related this pollution phenomenon to their health. As a
link, if the air quality monitoring data here could be regularly released to the local people, and
when the people know that they are living in an air environment that is extremely harmful to
their health, their risk perception will naturally be greatly improved. Satellite image monitoring
is a good technology to monitor the air quality (Engel-Cox et al., 2004; Sukitpaneenit and Kim Oanh,
2014), therefore, if it can be used in the future, it will help to improve residents' awareness of
environmental protection. In addition, if low-cost monitors could be widely used and the monitoring
data can be transmitted to the social media in real time, it will definitely be of great help to the
growth of residents' awareness of environmental protection.
(2) Strategy B.2: Civil attitude

The second strategy to improve risk perception is to promote the local civil attitude and let
everyone know that biomass burning is a behavior that endangers the health of nearby residents,
so everyone should not engage in this behavior. If the civil attitude of the residents in the
community increased, it can be expected that any of their open biomass burning behaviors will
be greatly reduced, and thus the amount of air pollution will also be decreased. It is very important
for the public to understand the sources of air pollutants and various methods to control them.
Only when citizens know where pollution comes from and how to control it, they will further
want good regulations to regulate it. Therefore, this is also an important process to form civic
consciousness.

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
(3) Strategy B.3: Group opinion

The third strategy to improve risk perception is to promote having an overall clean air by reducing
unregulated biomass burning a group consensus of local residents. Although the residents might
understand that biomass burning will cause air pollution, a group consensus of improving air
quality must be formed so that important policy from the government and various control schemes
can be carried out. Therefore, we suggested making ‘‘regulating biomass combustion to improve
air quality’’ a group consensus of local community residents.
3.3.3 Control Strategy C: Cultivate the protection behavior

The protection behavior of air pollution is an important key to evaluate whether residents can
protect themselves. If the public had a good protection behavior, it can be facilitated through
two methods such as advocacy and incentives. It mainly includes three aspects, namely, behavior
change, protection skill, and prevention habit.
(1) Strategy C.1: Behavioral change

The first method to form public protection behavior is behavior change. The residents are used
to directly burning biomass in the open air after the harvest. For them, this is a very convenient
way to deal with it, and it does not cost any money and manpower. However, such consequences
are at the expense of the deterioration of the air quality of the environment. Therefore, to let
the residents change their behavioral habits such as adopting a less polluting way of disposal
instead of directly burn in the open air would be a better way to manage the air quality (Semenza
et al., 2008). Moreover, environmental management goals can be achieved through behavioral
change, and there have been some successful examples in the past. For example, Taiwan has
successfully implemented a trash bag charging policy (Lai and Lee, 2022; Tsai, 2022) to achieve
litter reduction. The government stipulates that garbage must be disposed in designated garbage
bags. Because garbage bags need to be bought by money, people will naturally consider the cost
of garbage bags when throwing out garbage, and automatically reduce the amount of garbage
discarded. In the same way, we can use the theory of behavior change in social psychology to
change the burning behavior of farmers in this area.
(2) Strategy C.2: Protection skills

The second way to form people's protection behavior is to improve their protection skills. This
protection skill refers to behaviors that effectively protect themselves, such as wearing masks,
not opening windows when the air is polluted, not doing strenuous exercise outdoors when the
air quality deteriorates, and so on.
(3) Strategy C.3: Prevention habits

To build long-term effects of residents’ protection behavior, it is necessary to enable the public
to have good prevention habits. In order to develop good habits for general public, social education
must be used, which could be conducted through social media, TV broadcasts, newspapers,
community advocacy, and so on. However, behavior change policies should be accompanied by
incentives. Garbage bag charging policy provides the incentive to households for wastes reduction
via less demand of waste-intensive packaging, more recycling, and other sources reduction (Yang
and Innes, 2007). Similarly, if we would like to design air pollution control strategies for biomass
burning with economic incentives, this strategy must match the economic incentives behind the
behavior.
The open biomass burning causes serious air pollution in Northern Thailand. Nonetheless,
instead of burning biomass, biomass can be converted into energy which would also reduce the
pollution. The current practice of biomass is direct combustion without any treatment, causing
negative impacts on air quality. Apart from a small amount of nutrients that may be recycled by
the farmland, this practice has actually produced few positive effect. Therefore, the current open
biomass burning, like the previous case of littering, is an environmentally harmful behavior that
is not beneficial to society as a whole.
Fig. 6 highlights the significance of shifting from uncontrolled biomass burning to planned biomass
utilization. The main problem of biomass burning is the air pollutants it generated, including

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Fig. 6. Comparison between unregulated biomass burning and planned biomass use.
PM10, PM2.5, gaseous pollutants, and other hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). While providing some
nutrients to the soil, uncontrolled biomass burning typically resulted in negative consequences
for the atmosphere (Chen et al., 2023; Peng et al., 2023). This pollution poses serious risks to
human health and the environment, contributing to respiratory problems, existing health issues,
and diseases such as lung cancer (Dockery, 2009; Ryan et al., 2021). Additionally, uncontrolled
biomass burning can reduce visibility, posing threats to drivers, pilots, and other professionals
that rely on clear visibility for safe job performance (Keywood et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2017).
Furthermore, biomass burning can leave stains and damage on any surfaces, such as walls, roofs,
and even historical heritages, affecting the appearance of buildings and infrastructure (Striegel
et al., 2003; Wu et al., 1992).
To mitigate the negative impacts of biomass burning, it is crucial to control and manage these
burns. Planned utilization of biomass materials can offer potential benefits, such as the generation
of biomass without incidental pollution (Bajwa et al., 2018; Mohanakrishna and Modestra, 2023).
Technological advancement can minimize or eliminate negative impacts on the environment and
human health as biomass could be converted into energy or other useful products (Von Blottnitz
and Curran, 2007). For instance, modern biomass energy systems can significantly reduce emissions
of harmful pollutants, such as PM10, NO2, and SO2 (Nyashina et al., 2022; Saidur et al., 2011).
Furthermore, planned biomass utilization can produce electricity through various technologies,
including combustion, gasification, and anaerobic digestion. Electricity generated from biomass
can reduce our reliabilities on fossil fuels, lowering greenhouse gas emissions and leading to
positive outcomes for the environment and public health (Babu et al., 2022; Usmani et al., 2021).
In conclusion, the benefits of planned biomass utilization, such as the generation of biomass
without incidental pollution and the production of electricity, support the idea of properly
planning and implementing the utilization of biomass as a sustainable and environmentally
friendly source of energy.
3.3.4 Control Strategy D: Intensify the social influence

In the theory of planned behavior, prevention knowledge, risk perception, and protection

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
behavior are independent variables, while control performance is a dependent variable. In addition,
social influence is an adjustment variable for pollution prevention and control strategies. Although
the first three independent variables directly affect the effectiveness of the control strategy, their
actual effectiveness is regulated by the influence of social influence. Social influence is mainly
carried out by outlaw and suppress. It includes three parts, namely, encouragement and reward,
domestic regulation, and international convention.
(1) Strategy D.1: Encourage and rewards

Encourage and reward is to give the relative compensation to the community people. Because
people may have some financial losses when they change the original treatment method, giving
them financial subsidies will increase their motivation to perform low pollution prevention and
control behaviors. Agricultural wastes can produce the feed, fertilizer, and supplies for industry.
Therefore, through policies with incentives, farmers can change their past behaviors and adopt
farming methods that do not harm the environment. Economic growth is closely related to
improved living standards, so farming activities should not harm the environment as long as they
are moderately regulated.
(2) Strategy D.2: Domestic regulation

Secondly, the domestic regulation must be formulated and completed, so that those who cause
pollution will be punished appropriately, thereby producing a deterrent effect. Moran et al. (2019)
summarized the possible regulation that has been recommended by the previous researchers.
Pongpiachan et al. (2017) recommended raising the vehicle tax, developing bicycle lanes, and
increasing the use of public transportation. Although doing these things is not so close with the
biomass burning, but it helps to reduce the air pollution in Northern Thailand. Pongpiachan and
Paowa (2015) also proposed that anti-burning and smog prevention campaigns were effective
methods in decreasing the level of air pollution. Sirimongkonlertkun (2012a) suggested Thai
government should establish a specific policy to declare a repeatable burning area as an emergency
area. Tiyapairat (2012) suggested Thai government should decentralize more and run serious
prevention campaigns to strengthen residents’ understanding and participation and local
communities’ networking. Tiyapairat and Sajor (2012) suggested Thailand should move away
from top-down system of control. An understanding of localities would provide better results than
a one-size-fit-all sent down to every situation. Janta and Chantara (2017) introduced a road-traffic
management system to provide more air ventilation and reduce air pollutant accumulation of high
traffic density location. Kanabkaew and Kim Oanh (2011) updated Thailand emission database with
the data from crop and other biomass burning sources. The updated information would raise the
awareness in minimization of behaviors deteriorating the air quality. Kim Oanh and Leelasakultum
(2011) introduced a haze warning forecast to alert the public when the meteorological conditions
favor the formation of haze. Pengchai et al. (2009) updated Thailand’s air quality criterion to
account for the carcinogenicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
(3) Strategy D.3: International convention

International convention is the third part of social influence. The air pollution in Northern
Thailand is difficult to control because the air pollution here comes from different countries. As
shown in Fig. S1 to Fig. S3, according to the calculated results of the backward trajectory model, the
pollution sources came from Bengal, Myanmar, Thailand, and China. Since the laws and regulations
of each country are different, it must be handled through the international convention, which was
also proposed by Sirimongkonlertkun (2012b).
3.3.5 Key stakeholders involved with the strategies

When promoting air pollution prevention and control strategies, many stakeholders will
participate and they also play important roles that determine the success of the strategy
implemented. The stakeholders of each control strategy are listed in Table 4. Stakeholders in
environmental protection can include government agencies, environmental advocacy groups,
industries and businesses, individuals and households, communities and citizens, scientific and
academic communities, regulatory agencies, engineering and technical experts, agricultural

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Table 4. Key Stakeholders of different control strategy for preventing the pollution of biomass burning in Northern Thailand.
Control strategy
Key stakeholders
A1 A2 A3 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3
Environmental advocacy groups ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Industries and businesses ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Communities and citizens ■
Scientific and academic communities ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Regulatory agencies ■ ■ ■
Engineering and technical experts ■
public health advocacy groups ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Researchers ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Agricultural producers ■
Waste management and recycling ■
companies
Government agencies ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Community organizations ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Healthcare providers ■
Educators ■ ■ ■
Individuals and households ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
Health and safety professionals ■ ■
International organizations ■
Note:
1. Control Strategy A is to improve the prevention knowledge, which includes three measures: A.1: Source Abatement
A.2: Biomass Reutilization A.3: Waste Reduction.
2. Control Strategy B is to increase the risk perception, which includes three measures: B.1: Pollution Awareness B.2: Civil
Attitude B.3: Group Opinion.
3. Control Strategy C is to cultivate the protection behavior, which includes three measures: C.1: Behavioral Change
C.2: Protection Skills C.3: Prevention Habits.
4. Control Strategy D is to Intensify the Social Influence, which includes three measures: D.1: Encourage and Rewards
D.2: Domestic Regulation D.3: International Convention.
producers, waste management and recycling companies, public health advocacy groups, community
organizations, international organizations, healthcare providers, educators, health and safety
professionals, and researchers. These stakeholders can work together to promote and implement
policies, regulations, and practices aimed at reducing air pollution and protecting the environment.
Regulatory agencies are responsible for setting and enforcing standards for air quality, and may
work to promote the use of source abatement techniques, biomass reutilization, and waste
reduction practices. Environmental and public health advocacy groups may be more interested
in raising public awareness of air pollution risks and promoting measures to reduce pollution.
Community organizations and educators may play a role in promoting awareness and understanding
of air pollution risks and the importance of individual behavior change in supporting effective air
pollution control measures.
4 CONCLUSIONS
PM2.5 data was collected at three air pollution monitoring stations in Northern Thailand during
2019–2021, and it was found that February to April (dry season) was the most common polluted
season which had more pollution episodes than the other months. The pollution sources of PM2.5
during periods of severe pollution was analyzed by the HYSPLIT model, showing air mass transport
from nearby mountain areas with shorter transport distance was the main contributor, followed
by that from a long distance passing through the Northern Thailand. Moreover, the investigated
areas are mainly located in a mountainous area, with the main source of pollution being the open

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
burning of agricultural wastes produced by the residents. These pollution sources are hard to
control since the local residents have been accustomed to them, while the sources are also highly
scattered. Therefore, we proposed the control strategies such as the improvement of prevention
knowledge, increase of the risk perception, cultivation of the protection behavior, and intensification
of the social influence to not only reduce air pollution, but promote the environmental protection
and sustainable development in this area. Although the air pollution caused by open biomass
burning has become an environmental issue in Northern Thailand, this study suggested some
effective management strategies to improve the air quality and thus ameliorate Thai residents’
health and quality of life.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank the daily PM2.5 data from the Pollution Control Department, Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment, Thailand.
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Supplementary material for this article can be found in the online version at https://doi.org/
10.4209/aaqr.220432
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Strategy Design of PM2.5 Controlling for Northern

Aerosol and Air Quality Research | https://aaqr.org 1 of 22 Volume 23 | Issue 6 | 220432

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2.1 Episode Time Analysis

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Table 1. Concentration of air pollutants equivalent to the AQI value in Thailand.

2.2 Back Trajectory Analysis

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3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Frequency of the Episodes in Northern Thailand

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Table 3. The correlation analysis of PM2.5 levels in Northern Thailand.

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3.3 Air Quality Management Strategy

3.3.1 Control Strategy A: Improve the prevention knowledge

(1) Strategy A.1: Source abatement

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Fig. 5. Strategy map of Northern Thailand biomass burning pollution prevention.

The intensification of agricultural operations to meet these growing demands is associated

(2) Strategy A.2: Biomass reutilization

(3) Strategy A.3: Waste reduction

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3.3.2 Control Strategy B: Increase the risk perception

(1) Strategy B.1: Pollution awareness

(2) Strategy B.2: Civil attitude

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(3) Strategy B.3: Group opinion

3.3.3 Control Strategy C: Cultivate the protection behavior

(1) Strategy C.1: Behavioral change

(2) Strategy C.2: Protection skills

(3) Strategy C.3: Prevention habits

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3.3.4 Control Strategy D: Intensify the social influence

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(1) Strategy D.1: Encourage and rewards

(2) Strategy D.2: Domestic regulation

(3) Strategy D.3: International convention

3.3.5 Key stakeholders involved with the strategies

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Environ. 9, 101–113. https://doi.org/10.5572/ajae.2015.9.2.101

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from 1996 to 2013. J. Cleaner Prod. 112, 2625–2631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.

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