SYNOPSIS   

The haze situation in Malaysia has worsened this year, with the Air Pollutant Index (API) in Sarawak, such as Kuching, Samarahan and Serian, surpassing hazardous levels of 500. The onset of extreme El Niño is also expected to bring drier weather conditions, which are likely to exacerbate both fires and regional air pollution.

This talk will discuss Malaysia’s current haze early warning capacity, specifically focusing on the national operational haze forecasting system (MyCMAQ), developed by the Department of Meteorology Malaysia this year.

By integrating the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model, MyCMAQ can project air pollution concentrations across Malaysia up to five days in advance. This early warning system estimates concentrations of primary criteria pollutants, namely PM2.5, PM10, O3, CO, SO2 and NO2.

The deployment of the MyCMAQ system represents a critical advancement in Malaysia’s public health and disaster preparedness strategies. It provides government authorities, healthcare providers and the general public with crucial lead time for preparedness, implementing emergency protocols and taking proactive measures to reduce exposure to hazardous air pollution.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Dr. Maggie Chel Gee Ooi is a Research Fellow and serves as a Senior Lecturer/Research Fellow at the Institute of Climate Change, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

She obtained her First-Class MEng (Hons) in Chemical with Environmental Engineering and PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Nottingham Malaysia.

Maggie is a proficient weather and air quality modeller. Her recent research work attempts to link ozone pollution with climate change. She is involved in multiple consultancy projects with government agencies and industry to assess climate hazards and air quality exposure.

One of her signature products is the MyCMAQ operational national air quality forecasting system, developed for the Department of Meteorology Malaysia to forecast haze up to five days in advance.

Maggie is also actively involved in urban climate and urban pollution studies, as well as climate communications through the MyIKLIM one-stop climate change data portal.