August 8, 2012
Smoke over the Western United States; Code Orange Ozone Concentrations in the Eastern US, and Hazy Boundary Layer in Baltimore
Today's satellite imagery shows that much of the western United States is covered with smoke from wildfires across the West. Wildlfires locations are shown on the Google Earth top left image (fire locations are from NOAA Hazard Mapping System Fire and Smoke Product, while the true color MODIS-Terra is courtesy of the Univ. of Wisconsin Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS). The smoke was found over portions of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, as shown in the MODIS Terra AOD image (top right).
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Moderate (Code Yellow) PM2.5 AQI levels were reported along the Rocky Mountain States, California the Ohio River Valley and the Mid-Atlantic States, while Code Orange levels were experienced in Utah and Colorado. Ozone concentrations over these regions were mostly Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups as high pressure systems favored its production (hot temperatures, sunny skies and stagnant winds) fueled its production.
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Haze/particle pollution in Baltimore was confined to the planetary boundary layer, as seen in the lidar timeseries below, with satellite and sunphotometer AOD measurements in the Mid-Atlantic hindered due to the presence of clouds. The planetary boundary layer extended as high as 2 km.
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