March 26, 2009
Some “moderate” air conditions in the US, difficult to analyze due to strong cloud cover
Today’s EPA AIRNow’s PM2.5 map (top, left) shows “moderate” conditions in California, southern Texas, Oklahoma, and the northern east part of the US. The rest of the country shows “good” mass concentration values.
The ozone levels are also “good” through out the country.
Some aerosol plume hovering over the Gulf of Mexico could have lead to fairly stronger AOD values according to MODIS TERRA (top, right). This could be the reason for the “moderate” air conditions seen at the ground in southern Texas.
Unfortunately, no significant smoke or blowing dust can be observed on today’s MODIS TERRA RGB image of the area (bottom, left) due to a widespread cloud cover. According to the SSD fire team at NOAA, some fires are visible on the HMS map (bottom, right) but no smoke could be detected.
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