July 30, 2009
Smoke over the Northwestern part of the country, haze over the Texas-Mexican border
The SSD fire team at NOAA and the HMS map (top, left) report numerous large wildfires that continue to burn over portions of Alaska and northwestern Canada. A very large mass of smoke is reported over northern and eastern Alaska, northwestern Canada, portions of the Arctic and the north central U.S.
Some haze can be seen on today’s TERRA RGB image (top, right) over Southern Canada, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. This could be due to numerous wildfires in British Columbia and lead to significant light extinction values on the MODIS AOD map (bottom, left). This map also shows strong AOD values over the Texas-Mexican border. A closer look at the RGB image View image shows in deed some haze over the area.
The National Interagency Fire Center reports nine new large fires: one each in Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Oregon, Texas, and Washington; and two in Utah.
The AIRNow’s PM2.5 map (bottom, right) shows, at the most, “moderate” air conditions over a significant part of the Eastern US and California. Ozone levels reached “unhealthy for sensitive groups” in Southern California.
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Posted by Meloe Kacenelenbogen at July 30, 2009 10:20 PM