Why Malaysia Gets the Haze When the Fires Are Elsewhere | RainViewer Blog

TL;DR: Sarawak can record “very unhealthy” air without a single large fire inside its own borders. Smoke rises into the mid-atmosphere, where winds are steadier and more persistent At that level the monsoon carries it hundreds of kilometres before it settles back down West Sarawak is hit first simply because it sits closest to West Kalimantan The Peninsula receives smoke from Sumatra through the same mechanism The 2002 ASEAN agreement cannot remove the economic incentive to clear land by burning Sarawak can record “very unhealthy” air readings without a single major fire inside the state. That