April 21, 2012
Mexican fires produce dense smoke over Gulf of California; Asian dust moving across the US
It was a relatively quiet day in terms of air quality in the US today. The worst conditions were observed in the Southwestern portion of the US, from Southern California (top left: AQI and top right: Aqua RGB and AOD) - with code orange for both ozone and PM2.5 in the LA region - to Southern Arizona and New Mexico.
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According to NOAA's HMS (Hazard Mapping System) analysis, agricultural fires in Mexico were producing dense smoke over the Gulf of California. Modis AQUA observed high AOD in the region, confirming the presence of dense smoke (bottom,left)
HMS analysis also reported an area of aerosol believed to be from long range transport of Asian dust over the Great Lakes. The dust seem to have mixed with the clouds in the region. NRL NAAPS aerosol optical depth model (bottom, right) also indicates long range transport of dust through the Pacific Ocean, which is in agreement with HMS analysis. Their model also shows high AOD values over the Gulf of California and Gulf of Mexico due to the Mexican agricultural fires aforementioned.
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