U.S. Air Quality

Challenges of blogging at the equator

It has been a bit hazy the last few days here in Kuala Lumpur (KL), so I thought I would check out the view from MODIS to see how KL looked. The following images from MODIS Terra (left) and Aqua (right) illustrate one of the challenges of blogging near the equator...

At the mid-latitudes, the MODIS swaths overlap so there is never a regular gap in data. Near the equator, the swaths are not wide enough to have complete coverage between overpasses. So, since we are a few degrees above the equator here in KL, about every week or so the gaps line up over the same place for both morning (Terra) and afternoon (Aqua). The different angles of the swath gap is because Terra is 'descending' (from north to south) and Aqua is 'ascending' (from south to north).

Turning to several of the other data sources, air quality conditions were moderate with no major smoke in the region