U.S. Air Quality

Light extinction over Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Kansas, visible fires in Ontario

According to today’s TERRA AOD map (top, left), some strong light extinction values are shown over Pennsylvania, New Jersey and offshore over the Atlantic. The presence of particles over the area can’t be confirmed on the TERRA RGB image (top, right) due to strong cloud cover. Those high AOD values could also be due to cirrus cloud contamination. However, some “moderate” air conditions are seen over the area as well as in the Midwest and California on the EPA AIRNow’s PM2.5 map (bottom, left).
The ozone levels are, at the most, “moderate” over the country, especially over California, Oregon, Nebraska and Iowa.

The AQUA AOD mapshows also strong values over Kansas. The SSD fire team at NOAA describes hazy conditions of unknown origin over Southeastern Kansas, eastern Nebraska, western Ohio and southern Minnesota. This could be leftover smoke from fires in south central Canada, north central US or Mexico and Central America.

Finally, also described by the SSD fire team at NOAA, some fires are visible in Ontario on the MODIS AQUA RGB image (bottom, right).