Air quality in Syriam

How polluted is the air in Syriam?

Syriam, or Thanlyin as it is more commonly known as in modern times, is a major port city located on the Bago river, opposite from Yangon. It is home to one of the largest ports countrywide, the Thilawa port, which handles thousands of cargo ships every year.

In regards to its air pollution levels, over the course of 2020 Syriam presented with several months of high pollution, placing it high on the global circuit in terms of its ranking (coming in at 545^th place out of all cities ranked worldwide). These higher levels of pollution will be discussed in further questions, but for its readings in 2021, in mid-June, Syriam presented with a US AQI reading of 38, placing it in the ‘good’ air quality ratings bracket.

This shows that the city is subject to large fluctuations in its pollution levels, and caution should be practiced in order to keep one’s exposure to a minimum when pollution levels go up.

What health issues can appear from pollution exposure in Syriam?

Health issues that may present themselves as a result of breathing higher quantities of pollution would be ones that typically afflict the respiratory tract (throat down to the lungs), along with cardiac issues also becoming prominent, particularly affecting those that have suffered from them in times past.

Less serious illnesses usually present themselves at first, with ones such as dry coughs and chest pain appearing, along with infections of the respiratory tract, nausea and headaches presenting in certain individuals. However, they can all disappear relatively quickly when exposure to pollution is ceased entirely, or at least lessened.

More problematic conditions can occur if exposure continues to happen over a sustained period of time, with ones such as emphysema, pneumonia and asthma appearing, along with bronchitis. These are all respiratory ailments that fall under the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease bracket (COPD).

Continuously breathing fine particles, along with certain chemical compounds may lead to inflammation of the lining of lungs and upper respiratory tract, with scarring of the lung tissue taking place amongst vulnerable individuals or those that have a higher level of exposure.

This can lead to an increased probability of the above mentioned health conditions occurring, along with a reduction in the lungs capacity to fully expand and take in air (with scar tissue also preventing oxygen from being taken in sufficiently, leading to conditions such as ischemic heart disease).

Higher risks of cancer developing may also occur, particularly of the lungs, along with the throat, skin and many other organ systems throughout the body. This is made possible due to the invasive nature of PM2.5, and its ability to make its way into the bloodstream via the alveoli in the lung, aided by its extremely small size.

Cardiac conditions such as heart attacks and arrythmias, along with strokes and other serious or life threatening conditions may also present themselves, therefore making the need to keep pollution exposure to a minimum of greater importance. These pollution readings can all be followed via the air quality maps found on the IQAir website, as well as being available on the AirVisual app, which is updated hourly with both forecasts and current air pollution levels.

When do pollution levels reach a peak in Syriam?

Looking at the data taken from the 2020 records, the months of January through to April all came in with the highest readings of PM2.5.

These readings were 57 μg/m³, 61.7 μg/m³, 46.8 μg/m³ and 40.4 μg/m³ respectively, placing January and February into the 'unhealthy' ratings bracket, which requires a PM2.5 reading of 55.5 μg/m³ or above. This made the first four months of the year the most polluted, indicating that a large amount of smoke, haze and clouds of particulate matter would be permeating the atmosphere.

When does pollution start to clear in Syriam?

The months of June through to October of 2020 all showed exceptional levels of air quality, with all of them coming in within the world health organization's (WHO's) target goal of 10 μg/m³ or less, for the best level of air quality. Out of all of these months, July had the cleanest air, with reading of just 3.8 μg/m³.

What pollutants are present in Thanylin?

Thanylin sees a large amount of its pollution stemming from the heavy overuse of cars, motorbikes and other smaller vehicles, with heavy freight vehicles such as lorries and trucks (used in the transportation of many industrial items, goods, and other produce), the most prominent pollutants that would emanate from such sources would be the ones that go into the US AQI aggregation, which are nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂) along with ozone (O₃), along with the two fine forms of particle matter, PM2.5 and PM10.

Ozone, otherwise known as smog, is a secondary pollutant formed when the many oxides of nitrogen present in the air (alongside other gases or pollutants) are exposed to higher levels of solar radiation, or sunlight. This forces a chemical reaction to take place, causing smog to blanket certain parts of the cities, in a thick and highly visible cloud that can often be seen lingering over many busy roads and intersections in Asia, particularly within city limits where a large number of building prevent wind from blowing the buildups away.

Black carbon would also be found in the atmosphere, a pollutant that is the main component of soot, as well as finding release from open burn sites, or any process that sees some form of combustion taking place. This can occur in factories and power plants, all the way over to open burn sites, with slash and burn farming, or the burning of refuse or waste all giving off this pollutant (along with many others, depending on the material being combusted, with synthetic waste giving off some of the most harmful chemical pollutants).

Other pollutants include ones such as finely ground gravel and silica dust, along with certain heavy metals such as lead or mercury often being given off from construction sites (as well as factories, with many of the pollutants they put out often being similar in nature, due to much of the heavy machinery running on fossil fuels such as diesel).

Open burn sites and factories also release volatile organic compounds (VOC's), which can include chemicals such as benzene, formaldehyde, xylene and styrene. These are all highly damaging to both human health, and are made extremely easy to breathe due to their volatile nature making them remain in a gaseous state at lower temperatures.