[Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer] Code 916

TOMS Aerosol Hot Spot Images for 2002
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Today's Global Aerosol Conditions from Earth Probe TOMS

Smoke from Canadian fires

Smoke from Canadian fires in northern Quebec blanketed parts of the northeast United States on July 6, 7, and 8, moved over Labrador and out into the Atlantic on July 9, and then further into the Atlantic on July 10.

Click on image to obtain larger one

6-July-2002
6-July-2002
7-July-2002
7-July-2002
8-July-2002
8-July-2002

9-July-2002
9-July-2002
10-July-2002
10-July-2002

Smoke over the United States

The fire season over North America started early and is very severe. Here are the latest images.

NOTE: Scan bias is visible in some of these images and may intensify the aerosol index signal at times. This will be corrected once the calibration of EP TOMS has been adjusted.

Click on image to obtain larger one

26-June-2002
26-June-2002
27-June-2002
27-June-2002
28-June-2002
28-June-2002
29-June-2002
29-June-2002
30-June-2002
30-June-2002
1-July-2002
1-July-2002
2-July-2002
2-July-2002
3-July-2002
3-July-2002
4-July-2002
4-July-2002

Smoke over India

Fires in India have produced heavy smoke that covers almost the entire country as well as Bangladesh.
NOTE: Scan bias is visible in most of these images; this will be corrected once the calibration of EP TOMS has been adjusted.

Click on image to obtain larger one

4-May-2002
4-May-2002
5-May-2002
5-May-2002
6-May-2002
6-May-2002
7-May-2002
7-May-2002
8-May-2002
8-May-2002
9-May-2002
9-May-2002
10-May-2002
10-May-2002
11-May-2002
11-May-2002
12-May-2002
12-May-2002

Dust over the Mediterranean Sea

It's been an active spring for Saharan dust storms blowing across the Mediterranean. In the amazing sequence of images below (the number represents which day in April), you can see dust:

  1. surge just off of Spain into the western Mediterranean from Algeria
  2. continue from Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya into southern France and northern Italy
  3. dissipate while it drifts over eastern Europe
  4. begin to get blown back up through the middle of the Mediterranean
  5. surge again across the Mediterranean to fill the whole western end of the Mediterranean and extend over to Italy and Sicily
  6. form a very heavy line extending from well into Algeria, northeast across Tunisia and the Mediterranean across Sicily, straight across the middle of Italy and the Adriatic Sea, and directly over Croatia and Slovenia
  7. form a hook extending across to the eastern coast of the Adriatic and back down through the middle of Italy, with another dust cloud filling the eastern Mediterranean
  8. drift eastward, extending in a line from Algeria across the Mediterranean to Greece, Bulgaria, and further into Eastern Europe
  9. drift further eastward, still forming a rough line stretching from Libya, across Crete, to northern Turkey
  10. dissipate, with some dust still visible over southern Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean

Click on image to obtain larger one

7-April-2002
7-April-2002
8-April-2002
8-April-2002
9-April-2002
9-April-2002
10-April-2002
10-April-2002
11-April-2002
11-April-2002
12-April-2002
12-April-2002
13-April-2002
13-April-2002
14-April-2002
14-April-2002
15-April-2002
15-April-2002
16-April-2002
16-April-2002

More spectaclar images of dust over the Mediterranean

6-May-2002
6-May-2002
7-May-2002
7-May-2002
8-May-2002
8-May-2002
9-May-2002
9-May-2002
10-May-2002
10-May-2002
11-May-2002
11-May-2002
12-May-2002
12-May-2002

26-June-2002
26-June-2002
27-June-2002
27-June-2002
28-June-2002
28-June-2002
29-June-2002
29-June-2002
28-June-2002
28-June-2002
1-July-2002
1-July-2002
2-July-2002
2-July-2002
3-July-2002
3-July-2002
4-July-2002
4-July-2002

Dust over China

Huge dust storms have again plagued China and all of northern Asia

Click on image to obtain larger one

Heavy dust extends from south of Beijing across the Yellow Sea to over Korea and into the Sea of Japan;moderately heavy dust in the Taklimakan area
8-April-2002
Heavy dust is transported over southeastern Russia and northern Japan; moderately heavy dust over Korea and northeastern China
9-April-2002
Heavy dust moves further over southeastern Russia and northern Japan
10-April-2002
Heavy dust now over southeastern Russia and northern Japan
11-April-2002
Smaller, moderately heavy dust cloud over Sea of Okhotsk and Kamchatka; moderately dense cloud south of Beijing
12-April-2002
Moderately heavly cloud moves to the east of Kamchatka; Korea hit by moderately heavy cloud that extends from south of Beijing over the Yellow Sea
13-April-2002
Arc of moderately havey dust extends from just south of the Gobi desert, through Beijing, into northeast China, across the sea of Japan, directly over the center of Japan, and directly over Tokyo; heavy dust over the Taklimakan
14-April-2002
Line of moderately heavy dust drifts further east from south of Beijing across the Yellow Sea to North Korea; moderately heavy clouds east of Japan and over Taklimakan
15-April-2002
Heavy dust southeast of Beijing and over the Yellow Sea; heavy dust in Taklimakan
16-April-2002

Smoke over Southeast Asia

Smoke from biomass burning in southeast Asia also seems to be severe this year
NOTE: Due to calibration problems with EP TOMS, the scan bias is becoming more apparent. Once the calibration is updated, we will redo these images.

Click on image to obtain larger one

Moderate smoke now drifts down into Thailand and into Myanmar, dense cloud over Gulf of Tonkin and Hainan
6-April-2002
Smoke intensifies over same areas as 6 April
7-April-2002
Moderately heavy smoke over Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos, with heavy smoke over northern Vietnam and southeastern China
8-April-2002
Same situation as yesterday
9-April-2002
Moderately heavy smoke over western Myanmar; very heavy smoke over northern Vietnam, southeastern China
10-April-2002
Smoke dissipating over Myanmar; not as heavy over Vietnam and China
11-April-2002
Same dissipating; moderate over southern Mayanmar and east of the Gulf of Tonkin
12-April-2002
Not much smoke seen
13-April-2002
Not much smoke seen
14-April-2002

NOTE: I'm using the terrific new true-color MODIS "Blue Marble" image for the background on many of these images

Our thanks to the Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS) for developing the Display Imaging Software for the TOMS Aerosol Product.

Back to the main TOMS web site.

Author:
Dr. Colin Seftor, Raytheon ITSS
Responsible NASA official:
Dr. Jay Herman, Principal Investigator for TOMS Aerosol/UV projects