For many days, the air quality index in Hanoi has continuously been maintained at a low level, harming people's health. According to records from the IQAir application, at 4 pm on April 12, the AQI index in Hanoi reached 190, putting Hanoi in the group of leading polluted cities in the world.
Faced with this situation, specialized agencies have implemented a series of high-tech solutions such as AI, satellite images and drones to monitor emissions, one of the causes of air pollution in Hanoi. Last March, through data analysis, the National Remote Sensing Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) identified and announced about 110 areas at high risk of dust emission in the city, creating a basis for functional units to promptly handle. The collected data will be integrated into the geographic information system (GIS) to build a digital map of emissions sources throughout the city.
Discussing the role of technology, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Minh Hai (Deputy Director of the National Remote Sensing Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) said that the department is currently operating 3 data receiving stations from satellites such as VNREDSat-1 (resolution 2.5m), SPOT6 (resolution 1.5m) and KOMPSAT-3A (resolution 0.55m). This information is the "blood vessel" that feeds the national remote sensing database system, playing a central role in state management activities.
In particular, the combination of remote sensing images and drones has created breakthrough effectiveness in identifying environmental hotspots. In Hanoi, drones are used to detect early activities of burning waste products or large dust-spreading construction sites. Meanwhile, in the Central region, drones play the role of "field reconnaissance", sweeping and evaluating the effectiveness of erosion control in 18 key coastal areas, helping to come up with accurate response solutions.
Not only stopping at environmental monitoring, science and technology also create a turning point in the agricultural sector. Prof. Dr. Ha Hai Duong, Institute of Water, Irrigation and Environment (Vietnam Institute of Water Resources Science), affirmed that inventorying the environment and water resources is a vital task to cope with drought. Currently, machine learning and deep learning models have been deeply integrated into water resource analysis. When combined with automatic monitoring systems, AI has the ability to process huge volumes of data to forecast fluctuations from upstream of river and lake basins. Instead of relying on experience, these algorithms help provide accurate farming recommendations for farmers, minimize damage and optimize the agricultural sector restructuring roadmap.
To increase spread and management efficiency, the public service "Providing information and remote image data" has been put into operation by the National Remote Sensing Department on a digital platform. The sharing of shared data not only serves to investigate forest resources and rice land but also strongly supports national defense and security, meeting the requirements of national digital transformation. This is an important premise for building an intelligent forecasting network, where each data unit or each meter of drone flight path directly contributes to protecting community safety.
The journey from "reacting" to "early forecasting" environmental issues still faces many challenges, but with the participation of science and technology, a solid "shield" is gradually being shaped against the harsh changes of nature.
