June 21, 2008
No visible smoke, mostly “moderate” conditions over the US and two major dust storms over West coast of Africa and Middle East.
Though today's true color MODIS-AQUA image (bellow, left) appears very cloudy, it seems that the fires over California are no longer visible from space. The smoke plume from North Carolina seems to have definitely fanned out over the Atlantic. But according to the National interagency fire center, there is still a large fire activity that increased in New Mexico and Texas.
Air Quality is mostly "moderate" over the US according to today’s EPA AirNow's particulate matter (PM2.5, bellow right). The same can be said for today's ozone levels although we observe locally unhealthy conditions in South California and Georgia at the end of the day.
 |  |
As it appears that no important particle event is visible over the United States, let's have a look at two major sand storms that started mid-June. One is hovering over the Middle East (especially over the United Arab Emirates, MODIS-AQUA true color image, bellow left) and the other is blowing off the West coast of Africa and over the Atlantic Ocean (MODIS-AQUA true color image, bellow right). Mean sunphotometer AOD values (at 550 nm) are about 1.3 in Abu Dhabi and 0.9 in Cape Verde . According to a report from GulfNews.com, the dusty conditions will start tomorrow to abate and temperatures will increase in Abu Dhabi.
 |  |