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September 10, 2022 - Smoke from West Coast Fires Over Greenland
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By September 8, 2022, smoke from many dozens of large wildfires burning across the Western United States had travelled more than 2,800 miles (4,506 km) to reach the western coast of Greenland. On that same day, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of a gray blanket of smoke lying over the Davis Strait and coastal Greenland, including the towns of Nuuk and Paamiut. In the north, the hazy pall appears to be mingling with the cloud layer, suggesting that the smoke stayed high aloft. Air Quality reports for Nuuk and Paamiut registered in the “Good” range on September 8, also indicative that the pollution stayed aloft rather than nearing ground level.
A record-setting heat wave combined with drought set the stage for a vicious fire season across the Western United States. In the first week of September, Sacramento, California reached a record high temperature for that city of 116˚F (46.7˚C) while Death Valley, California’s 127˚F (47.2˚C) set a new high temperature for September recorded anywhere on Earth. At the same time, the number and size of wildfires are growing. The National Interagency Fire Center’s (NIFC) report on September 9 identified 96 large fires burning in 8 states: 37 in Idaho, 22 in Montana, 12 in Oregon, 12 in Washington, 10 in California, and 1 each in Utah, Wyoming, and Nevada. This is a large uptick from a week prior—even from a day earlier. The NIFC stated that twenty-five new fires had ignited over the last 24 hour period. The 96 large fires had charred 690,030 acres, with more than 17,000 wildland firefighters and personnel actively working the incidents.
Red-flag warnings for extreme fire conditions continue across parts of Washington, Oregon, and California.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 9/8/2022
Resolutions:
1km (1.3 MB), 500m (3.7 MB), 250m (2.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
By September 8, 2022, smoke from many dozens of large wildfires burning across the Western United States had travelled more than 2,800 miles (4,506 km) to reach the western coast of Greenland. On that same day, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of a gray blanket of smoke lying over the Davis Strait and coastal Greenland, including the towns of Nuuk and Paamiut. In the north, the hazy pall appears to be mingling with the cloud layer, suggesting that the smoke stayed high aloft. Air Quality reports for Nuuk and Paamiut registered in the “Good” range on September 8, also indicative that the pollution stayed aloft rather than nearing ground level.
A record-setting heat wave combined with drought set the stage for a vicious fire season across the Western United States. In the first week of September, Sacramento, California reached a record high temperature for that city of 116˚F (46.7˚C) while Death Valley, California’s 127˚F (47.2˚C) set a new high temperature for September recorded anywhere on Earth. At the same time, the number and size of wildfires are growing. The National Interagency Fire Center’s (NIFC) report on September 9 identified 96 large fires burning in 8 states: 37 in Idaho, 22 in Montana, 12 in Oregon, 12 in Washington, 10 in California, and 1 each in Utah, Wyoming, and Nevada. This is a large uptick from a week prior—even from a day earlier. The NIFC stated that twenty-five new fires had ignited over the last 24 hour period. The 96 large fires had charred 690,030 acres, with more than 17,000 wildland firefighters and personnel actively working the incidents.
Red-flag warnings for extreme fire conditions continue across parts of Washington, Oregon, and California.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 9/8/2022
Resolutions:
1km (1.3 MB), 500m (3.7 MB), 250m (2.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
