2. Review of Land/ Forest Fires and Smoke Haze Situation
2.1 Wet weather conditions in December 2011 continued to keep hotspot activities in the southern ASEAN region subdued. However, a brief period of drier weather towards the end of December 2011 led to a slight increase in hotspot activities mainly in central Sumatra. In the northern ASEAN region, the onset of drier weather conditions resulted in occasional hotspot activities being detected in parts of Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar.
2.2 Satellite pictures depicting some of the hotspot activities in the ASEAN region during December 2011 are shown Figs. 2 to 5.
Fig 2: NOAA-18 satellite image on 30 December 2011 showing isolated hotspot activities in central Sumatra.
Fig 3: NOAA-18 satellite image of the northern ASEAN region on 11 December 2011 showing the emergence of increased hotspots in Thailand with the onset of drier conditions in the region.
Fig 4: NOAA-18 satellite image on 12 December 2011 showing the occurrence of hotspot activities in central Thailand.
Fig 5: NOAA-18 satellite image on 29 December 2011 showing an increase in hotspot activities over Cambodia.
2.3 The hotspot charts for December 2011 for
a) Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar;
b) Sumatra, Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia; and
c) Java, Sulawesi and the Philippines
are shown in Figs.6 to 8, respectively. 
Fig. 6: Hotspot Counts in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar for December 2011
Fig. 7: Hotspot Counts in Sumatra, Borneo, P. Malaysia for December 2011
Fig. 8: Hotspot Counts in Java, Sulawesi, Philippines for December 2011
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