May 12, 2012
Ozone continues to plague southern California; Mexican smoke fills the Caribbean
Our friends at the Hazard Mapping Service (HMS) at NOAA see something in the GOES imagery (left) that we cannot see in the Aerosol Optical Depth data from IDEA (right). There are fire detections in Iowa and north but we don't see the smoke in the GASP product from IDEA.
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The ozone problem continues in Southern California under clear skies. MODIS Terra's RGB shows LA clearly but the elevated AQI is due to ozone. The Coachilla Valley has 104 AQI which is due to ozone and is in the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups range (left). And we can expect that smoke from the Caribbean will be impacting the US south. Fires are replete over Mexico and smoke is pouring north (right image).
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Finally, in the Pacific, bursts of what look to be smoke from the Siberian fires continue eastward. This is the image from this yesterday.
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