Fires in California

Fires in the USA

31 October 2007


Fires in Southern California

In addition to the dangers that a wildfire’s flames pose topeople, wildlife, and property, the smoke that they billow out poses a healthhazard over an even larger area. During the fires in Southern California duringthe fourth week of October, the air quality deteriorated to levels that theEnvironmental Protection Agency categorizes as “unhealthy” in many areas.

Aura
25-27 October 2007

  

This series of images shows the spread of smoke between 25-27 October, astracked by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA’s Aura satellite. OMI measures how much the smoke particles impede light passingthrough the atmosphere. Places where smoke particles (aerosols) were thickestare colored pink; relatively clear air is transparent, and clouds are white. OnOctober 25 (top), strong Santa Ana winds had driven smoke westward over thePacific Ocean. As the Santa Ana winds relaxed later in the week, however, smokespread northeast as far Utah and Colorado (bottom images).

The large images provided above have a spatial resolution (level of detail) of250 meters per pixel.

(source: EarthObservatory)

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