County Line Fire in Florida

(Click on image for larger view.)

The County Line Fire in Northeast Florida has sent smoke into the outskirts of Jacksonville. NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on the Terra satellite captured this view of the plume at 12:05 p.m. local time (16:05 UTC) on April 10, 2012.

The smoke elevated levels of particulate matter around and south of Jacksonville to unhealthy levels, according to AIRNow. The smog blog, a website operated by UMBC scientists, reported that the CALIPSO satellite had recorded high particulate levels around Jacksonville with its lidar instrument.

Lightning sparked the fire on April 5, 2012, and it had burned a total of 25,000 square acres by April 11, 2012. Florida is typically dry in April, but an ongoing drought in the Southeast has brought exceptionally dry conditions to the area west of Jacksonville. That city has seen only 31 percent of normal rainfall so far this year, a deficit of nearly 20 centimeters (8 inches).

References:
Inciweb. (2012). County Line Fire. Accessed April 11, 2012.
U.S. Drought Monitor. (2012) Florida: April 3, 2012. Accessed April 11, 2012.
The Smog Blog. Code Red in Florida Again, Smoke Along the Eastern Seaboard. Accessed April 11, 2012.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response. Caption by Adam Voiland.

Instrument:
Terra - MODIS - NASA