Smoke over the Pacific Northwest; Cloudy skies over Baltimore
Smoke from the Pacific Northwest states continue to be the cause of the high AOD values recorded by NASA's MODIS sensor in the Aqua satellite. The air quality in these locations has improved with locations near the fire sites (Sisters Forest Service, Oregon and Wenatchee, Washington) reporting PM2.5 concentrations in the Code Yellow and Orange (Moderate and Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups), as seen in EPA's Airnow PM2.5 AQI animation and the PM2.5 timeseries below (top right and bottom left, respectively). The animation also shows high PM2.5 concentrations in locations near Houston with concentrations up to 40 ug/m3. Here in Baltimore, we experienced good air quality. Lidar observations show a cloud capped boundary layer, that extended up to 2 km.
Posted by Ruben Delgado at October 10, 2012 9:43 PM
