May 8, 2009
Smoke over North Pacific from Santa Barbara fires and over Gulf of Mexico from Mexico and Central America fires
Today US experienced moderate air quality conditions in Texas, Oklahoma (Code Orange), California, Northeast and some portions of the South as well (top, left). Ozone levels were good throughout the country with exception of California that even reached Code Red today (top, right) due to the combination of intense smoke from Santa Barbara fires and lots of sunlight.
HMS NOAA team shows us the smoke in their product (bottom) both over the North Pacific and over the Gulf of Mexico.
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MODIS (Terra and Aqua) shows us in their true color images all that smoke. At the bottom, left we see the Santa Barbara's fire smoke and at the right the smoke over the Gulf of Mexico coming from Mexico and Central America fires.
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The AOD from MODIS Aqua in the West Coast is below, showing the effects of the smoke as one could already expect. In the right just a highlight in how serious is the situation in Santa Barbara. Image from Los Angeles Times.
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