May 6, 2009
Smoke Drifting North into Texas from Fires in Mexico and Central America
Today’s Aqua MODIS true color image captured the smoke that is drifting north into Texas from the many active fires in parts of Mexico and Central America. Not to be confused with the north-south strip of sunglint (reflection of the sun off the water) in the center of the Gulf of Mexico, the smoke can be easily seen along the Texas coast. A closer look at Aqua MODIS overlaid with peak AQI levels from AIRNow shows the moderate air quality (PM2.5) experienced by Texas cities such as Corpus Christi and Brownsville/McAllen today (Google Earth image below).
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The NOAA Hazard Mapping System confirms the fires and smoke plumes that we see in the true color image in Texas. Today’s AIRNow map of PM2.5 levels shows one other area of moderate PM2.5 levels in the Ohio River Valley and lower Midwest. The Terra and Aqua AOD were not available at the time of this posting to confirm the smoke in Texas, but the visual evidence and ground-based values are evidence enough of this smoke transport event.
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