Dates of Images:

July 4-July 8

Summary:

This product provides the PM2.5 impacts at the surface from the Sandy Fire by calculating the total number of daytime hours when surface fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exceeded the 35 µg/m³ health threshold for sensitive groups (USG). Surface concentrations of PM2.5 Level 4 (L4) files were generated from Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) Satellite and Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) aerosol retrievals. The aerosol optical depth (AOD) and PM2.5 products were created at NOAA/NESDIS. The data covers the daytime observation windows during the active fire period from May 18 to May 25, 2026. Because TEMPO relies on sunlight, these observations represent approximately 10 to 12 hours of sun-lit coverage per calendar day rather than a full 24-hour cycle.

For emergency managers, this highlights total cumulative exposure durations, allowing officials to efficiently target health impacts in heavily affected communities.

Caveats and Limitations:

Since the TEMPO instrument only makes observations during daylight hours, communities likely experienced significant additional nighttime smoke exposure that is not captured in these products. Furthermore, dense cloud cover can block satellite measurements, and these values may underestimate the true duration of smoke exposure in persistently cloudy areas. TEMPO data also exhibits more noise at the edges of clouds.

Suggested Use:

While hours when surface PM2.5 was greater than 35 µg/m³ represents the health standard referred to as "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups," this daytime-only product is developed only for rapid disaster response and should not be used for official EPA regulatory compliance, which requires a full 24-hour average. Red colors in the image represent more hours when the surface pM2.5 concentrations were higher than 35 µg/m³.

Satellite/Sensor/Resolution:

The surface PM2.5 product is estimated using data from two primary instruments: the TEMPO spectrometer aboard the Intelsat-40e commercial satellite and the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on the GOES-R Series satellites (GOES-East and GOES-West). The final product is derived using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) algorithm that combines satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD) and aerosol layer height (ALH) with hourly data from AIRNOW surface monitors. While the raw TEMPO data has a native resolution of 2.0 km by 4.75 km, it is re-scaled to match the ABI's fixed grid, resulting in a final product with a spatial resolution of 2 km.

Credits:

AOD and PM2.5 were provided by NOAA/NESDIS. Data analysis and cumulative exposure maps were created by Dr. Aishwarya Raman (BAERI/NASA ARC). Point of contact for TEMPO PM2.5 data - Amy Huff (Science and Technology Corporation (STC) at NOAA) and Shobha Kondragunta (NOAA).

Esri REST Endpoint:

See URL to the right.

Data Download:

For data, please contact Amy Huff (Science and Technology Corporation (STC) at NOAA) and Shobha Kondragunta (NOAA).

Dates of Images:

July 4-July 8

Summary:

This product provides the PM2.5 impacts at the surface from the Sandy Fire by calculating the total number of daytime hours when surface fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exceeded the 35 µg/m³ health threshold for sensitive groups (USG). Surface concentrations of PM2.5 Level 4 (L4) files were generated from Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) Satellite and Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) aerosol retrievals. The aerosol optical depth (AOD) and PM2.5 products were created at NOAA/NESDIS. The data covers the daytime observation windows during the active fire period from May 18 to May 25, 2026. Because TEMPO relies on sunlight, these observations represent approximately 10 to 12 hours of sun-lit coverage per calendar day rather than a full 24-hour cycle.

For emergency managers, this highlights total cumulative exposure durations, allowing officials to efficiently target health impacts in heavily affected communities.

Caveats and Limitations:

Since the TEMPO instrument only makes observations during daylight hours, communities likely experienced significant additional nighttime smoke exposure that is not captured in these products. Furthermore, dense cloud cover can block satellite measurements, and these values may underestimate the true duration of smoke exposure in persistently cloudy areas. TEMPO data also exhibits more noise at the edges of clouds.

Suggested Use:

While hours when surface PM2.5 was greater than 35 µg/m³ represents the health standard referred to as "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups," this daytime-only product is developed only for rapid disaster response and should not be used for official EPA regulatory compliance, which requires a full 24-hour average. Red colors in the image represent more hours when the surface pM2.5 concentrations were higher than 35 µg/m³.

Satellite/Sensor/Resolution:

The surface PM2.5 product is estimated using data from two primary instruments: the TEMPO spectrometer aboard the Intelsat-40e commercial satellite and the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on the GOES-R Series satellites (GOES-East and GOES-West). The final product is derived using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) algorithm that combines satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD) and aerosol layer height (ALH) with hourly data from AIRNOW surface monitors. While the raw TEMPO data has a native resolution of 2.0 km by 4.75 km, it is re-scaled to match the ABI's fixed grid, resulting in a final product with a spatial resolution of 2 km.

Credits:

AOD and PM2.5 were provided by NOAA/NESDIS. Data analysis and cumulative exposure maps were created by Dr. Aishwarya Raman (BAERI/NASA ARC). Point of contact for TEMPO PM2.5 data - Amy Huff (Science and Technology Corporation (STC) at NOAA) and Shobha Kondragunta (NOAA).

Esri REST Endpoint:

See URL to the right.

Data Download:

For data, please contact Amy Huff (Science and Technology Corporation (STC) at NOAA) and Shobha Kondragunta (NOAA).