U.S. Air Quality

Smoke in the North, Sulfate in the East

Regions of Moderate AQI across the Plains, Southeast, and Pacific Southwest, as well as additional smaller spots in the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and Pacific Northwest are visible in the EPA AQI loop below left. Also visible are areas Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups in North Dakota and South Carolina. The NRL NAAPS forecast predicts sulfate over the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast, which may account for the higher AQIs in those portions of the country. The smoke that's been drifting south from Canada over the past several days is still over the Great Lakes and northern Plains, as seen in the HMS imagery below left. The smoke also shows up as elevated AOD in the MODIS Terra image below right, although clouds cover much of the area of interest. This could be the cause of the lower air quality in and around the upper Plains. Smoke from another source is visible in the MODIS Terra image from Google Earth, below, showing what looks like smoke pouring out of the forests near the Mills Canyon and Rock Hill fires in central Washington state.
Posted by Daniel Orozco at July 10, 2014 10:33 PM