bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

Updated at 5.04pm:
Last year Hong Kong continued to experience a record number of days of low visibility due to air pollution, a Hong Kong Observatory assistant director said on Thursday.

An observatory study revealed that visibility in the territory fell to an area of only eight kilometres for 18 per cent of the year. This broke previous records.

 The study showed that Hong Kong's long-term trend of deteriorating visibility caused by pollution continued in 2004.

'Between 1968 and 1986, the percentage of time that reduced visibility occurred at the Hong Kong Observatory Headquarters rose at a rate of 0.8 per cent per decade.
 Between 1986 and 2004 the rate became significantly greater - at 5.7 per cent per decade or seven times faster than that of the previous period,' observatory assistant director Yeung Kai-hing said.

Other than fog, mist and rain, reduced visibility occurred mainly because of pollution, he explained.

Mr Yeung said this generally resulted from human activities. These included construction work, traffic, fossil-fuel power generation, cooking and burning of vegetation.

Visibility was even worse at Hong Kong's International Airport at Chek Lap Kok. There, visibility of less than 8km occurred 24 per cent of the time in 2004. This was also the highest on record.

Mr Yeung said these changes were most obvious during autumn. Before the mid-1980s, reduced visibility seldom occurred in autumn.

 After the mid-1980s, reduced visibility (of 8km) became increasingly frequent in autumn, occurring 10 per cent of the time in the last few years. 

The situation was not likely to change unless Hong Kong reduced the amount of pollutants it produced each year, added Mr Yeung.



Chinese military ‘warns off’ US destroyer from South China Sea’s Scarborough Shoal

Collision between Chinese ships expected to escalate tension in South China Sea

Philippines slams ‘reckless’ Chinese ships over collision at Scarborough Shoal

Philippines to push for binding South China Sea code in 2026 – will it succeed?

South China Sea

HK experienced record number of days of low visibility in 2004