In recent days, the air pollution situation in Hanoi has tended to increase. On the morning of February 5th, at one point Hanoi was the 5th most polluted city in the world with an AQI of 191 - an unhealthy level for human health. The foggy, thick air makes people's lives uncomfortable.
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Anh Le (Head of the Department of Environmental Management, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi) - there are many causes leading to smoky air pollution, including the combination of meteorological conditions. Weather makes air pollution difficult to diffuse.
According to the law, the pollution season will take place from about October to April of the following year. During this period, weather conditions such as counter-heat and humidity make pollutants difficult to diffuse, leading to reduced air quality.
From around May-June, air quality may improve. The weather turns to summer, the wind regime changes, high temperatures increase vertical air convection, thereby creating conditions for dispersing and washing away polluting substances.
Pollution will only be improved if the causes from other sources of emissions decrease or there is no change. Failure to reduce pollution from traffic activities, production... or people's habits such as burning straw still persists, the pollution situation will still be severe," Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Anh Le - assessed.
Faced with the reality of Hanoi's air pollution, many studies and applications have been launched to determine the level of pollution and forecast the air pollution situation in the city.
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Nhat Thanh (University of Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi) - representative of the Smart Geospace research group - HanoiAir Air Quality Forecasting System research group, HanoiAir is an application that allows forecasting air quality indicators for the next 9 days in Hanoi and neighboring provinces and cities. The application provides forecasting maps of air quality indicators according to Vietnamese standards and PM2.5 fine dust concentrations, on a 1x1km net per day.
HanoiAir has a community version with functions such as displaying VN AQI and PM2.5 forecast maps in Hanoi and surrounding areas for the current day, air quality developments for 126 wards/communes in Hanoi in the next 9 days, ranking wards/communes according to air quality index.
Thanks to that, people can directly exploit information from HanoiAir to proactively plan to adapt and protect themselves and their families.
At the same time, through the system, managers can use HanoiAir to early warn of serious air pollution outbreaks and take measures to minimize emissions in the locality during this period.
According to HanoiAir data, in the coming days, the level of air pollution in Hanoi will improve, and air quality will be average.
Regarding further forecasting and prevention of the impacts of air pollution, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thien Phuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, said that in the face of air pollution at the end of 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has issued an urgent document to the People's Committees of provinces and cities directly under the Central Government requesting immediate measures such as strengthening road washing, controlling 100% of construction activities as well as open burning (spontaneous burning of garbage, straw)...
Ms. Phuong also said that in the coming time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment will also coordinate with relevant ministries and branches and localities to be ready to establish emergency response scenarios in case the AQI air pollution index is above 300, an alarming level that seriously affects human health.
