March 16, 2008
Haze and Smoke in Texas and New Mexico
Most of the US is enjoying good air quality. The notable exception today was unhealthy air quality just south of El Paso,Texas (left image). A closer look at southern Texas (right image, MODIS Aqua RGB) reveals some haze but according the today's HMS analysis some of this could be smoke. Air quality in that area was in the moderage range.
Note: not all Airnow AQI monitor colors show in the KMZ images that we use for display on google earth, hence the red monitor in Horizon City is not present in the right image. According to the NOAA HMS analysis there is also smoke over the gulf and over Florida. It seems like today's MODIS AOD retrieval picked up the smoke, notice the band of higher aerosols over the gulf, Florida and off the east coast of Florida.
 |  |
Notice there is a bit of sediment just off the Louisiana coast today (brown color over the ocean). There is also continued fire activity in the southeast. See the HMS image for fire and smoke plume locations. I see a faint smoke plume off the Florida Panhandle over the ocean and a fairly large plume in southwestern Mississipi near the Louisiana border. A few plumes are also visible in eastern Texas.
