U.S. Air Quality

MORE ON "Intense haze over Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, Montana.."

The haze over Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, Montana, and Minnesota is likely due to long range transport. We’ve received great comments related to this blog post. Please refer to those comments made by Stephen Corfidi and Scott Bachmeier in the previous post. Another site, which posts GOES satellite data, also discusses this story (source- VISIT: Meteorological Interpretation Blog). All REALM participants should turn on their LIDAR systems, since it is possible that some of this pollution can reach over those sites. Scott Bachmeier from CIMSS has provided backward trajectories, which further indicates the source of the pollutants. I've also ran HYSPLIT backward trajectories at 1km, 1.5km, and 4km (see below). Lastly, refer to the NAAPS-NESDIS AOD plot from the NRL team.

This pollution is primarily at high altitudes (see above) in the atmosphere. We need some LIDAR data to see if some of these aerosols will mix down to the surface. Most moderate AQI reports (previously noted on the blog; source: EPA AIRNow) in the Midwest/ Central U.S. is probably due to local events.