June 19, 2012
Fires concentrated in Southeast Region, with Strong fires in Colorado and N.C.
The first image below, courtesy NOAA HMS, shows the fire locations across the United States. The red dots correspond to active fires, and the grey areas are plumes. The largest concentrations are in the southeast region, with many fires in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. The largest plumes are stretching across the Midwest region, which is most likely due to some of the larger fires ( the largest are the High Park and Springer fires in Colorado as mentioned in previous posts) in the Rocky Mountain region. The second image below shows the EPA AIRNOW AQI values for the U.S. There is a large amount of PM 2.5 and ozone in this region. There appears to be a surge of ozone in the Great Lakes states, that has moved down through some of the surrounding states, causing a few code oranges. The fires along the eastern seaboard are also depositing some smoke particulates and debris. The image below these also shows the forecasted 1 hour average ozone concentration (ppb) for the Great Lakes.
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The first image below shows the Lance Webmapping Service, with the MODIS AQUA AOD overlaid on top of it. You can see the raised values of AOD in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Great Lakes regions. The spotty raised values in southern Nevada are mostly due to smaller dust storms in that region. The next image, courtesy GASP, shows the MODIS AQUA AOD for the Northeast region. This image picked up a good portion of the large fires in North Carolina. You can see the largest AOD in that region on the coastline and you can see the smoke plumes heading north and eastward. This wildfire in the Croatan National Forest County has grown to more than 21,000 acres, generating heavy smoke that contains high levels of particle (PM 2.5) pollution. The fire is centered between Havelock and New Bern, and as long as the wind continues to pour into the Atlantic Ocean, there will be moderate and USG AQI levels.
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