NASA Shares Worrying Images Of US East Coast Engulfed By Smoke From Canadian Wildfires

Raging wildfires, a common occurrence in Canada and some parts of the United States pose a threat to the air quality due to the release of vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Besides habitat loss and affecting wildlife, the smoke pollution can be detrimental to humans toppling the air quality index due to the presence of fine particulate matter that is 2.5 microns or less in diameter (PM2.5), as per the California Air Resources Board. In 2023, the NASA Earth Observatory featured a striking image of a cloud of wildfire smoke traveling all the way from Canada to the northeastern regions of the United States. 

The image was captured from the Geostationary Operational Environment Satellite 16 (GOES-16) and showed smoke from a wildfire in western Canada sweeping into New York and Pennsylvania on June 7, 2023. NASA explained, “Winds typically move smoke from fires in Quebec toward the east and out to sea. But in June 2023, a persistent coastal low centered near Prince Edward Island instead steered smoke south into the United States.” The close proximity of Quebec to the northeast U.S. enabled a vast amount of smoke to dissolve with surface-level air. 

Ryan Stauffer, an atmospheric scientist based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said at the time, “The surface smoke pollution from New York to the D.C. region is easily the most significant since at least July 2002, when a similar situation occurred with nearby fires in Quebec.” Air quality monitors by AirNow– a partnership of national environmental agencies like NOAA, NASA, CDC, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – determined the levels of PM2.5 shooting above 400 micrograms per cubic meter of air in Syracuse, New York. It was the highest level on record for the city and was expected to surpass the smoke pollution observed in a similar Candian wildfire from 2002. 

Stauffer later revealed that New York City eventually surpassed 175, which is code red, in the air quality index for fine particulate matter below 2.5, exceeding the former record of 167 in 2002. Washington D.C. also observed similar dangerous levels of air pollution. The dense smoke imparted visible effects on the color of sunlight. Additional photos of the affected areas like Maryland and Lanham showed gray skies with hues of red in the morning sun. Stauffer speculated the sun may be completely obscured in such extremities. 

The fine particles drifting away with the smoke absorb sunrays with shorter wavelengths, like the blues, greens, and yellows, leaving behind the colors with longer wavelengths like red and orange. As a result, the sky appeared gray with red sunrises and sunsets when the smoke pollution engulfed the cities, said NASA. Further observations revealed interesting aspects of smoke traveling from one region to another through days and months. 

MPLNET data– a network designed to measure aerosol and cloud vertical structure using Micro-Pulse Lidar– from NASA’s station detailed a multi-layered smoke plume at the time of the photograph. At about 3 kilometers, a thick smoke near the surface lurked while a thinner layer existed at approximately 6 kilometers. The faint layer of smoke at about 12 kilometers was said to be a month old and could be traced back to wildfires in Alberta on May 5, said Michael Fromm, an atmospheric scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.