U.S. Air Quality

Moderate Air Quality Across the Midwest and Northeast

Today was another eventful day in air quality. Moderate PM 2.5 blanketed the upper Midwest and the Northeast. Portions of Pennsylvania had PM that was Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups.

Much of the Midwest had elevated AOD, although the area East and South of Indiana was covered in clouds and AOD could not be read (Terra, left). An examination of this area, however, did not reveal any obvious signs of smoke or dense haze. Matter that reflects the signal (causing the elevated AOD) certainly could be present but just not visible on the RGB image (Terra, right).

There were no major smoke plumes associated with fires, although there were many “hot spots’ concentrated in Missouri and surrounding states

Posted by Adam Carpenter at March 16, 2009 7:48 PM