Smoke from raging B.C. fires seen from space by NASA satellite

CBC ^ | 8/17/18 | Nicole Mortillaro

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The fires raging in British Columbia aren't just confined to the province: a NASA satellite captured the smoke as it blanketed the skies over Alberta and Saskatchewan earlier this week.

There are nearly 600 fires burning across B.C. which is in its third day of a province-wide state of emergency. Between Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon 36 new fires started, mostly sparked by lightning.

NASA used two satellites to image the smoke: the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, or VIIRS on its Suomi NPP satellite and the DSCOVR satellite that launched in 2015.

Smoke from the fires rises high into the atmosphere, NASA said, where it doesn't pose an immediate threat to people in the region. However, as the smoke travels eastward, the wind can bring carbon monoxide pollutants down to the surface.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

…continued…For example, on Thursday the government of Manitoba issued an air quality advisory for the southwest part of the province as smoke from the B.C. fires descended into the region.

Black carbon

Among pollutants that make their way into the atmosphere during forest fires is black carbon. This black, sooty material forms from the incomplete combustion of vegetation and fossil fuels. The material travels easily in the wind and, if inhaled, can cause respiratory and cardiovascular problems.

This is why people near the fires woke up on Friday morning waiting hours before there was any semblance of daylight. Sunrise in Prince George is at 5:55 a.m., but at 9 a.m., residents remained in darkness and streetlights were still on.

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Here in North Idaho, local school sports teams are not allowed to practice outdoors if atmospheric particulate exceeds 150 ppm. For three days, high school football teams have been practicing indoors or driving to areas with better air quality. The several weeks of smoke and heavy haze are wearing thin.

In the first photo below, you can see the smoke streaming southward down valleys into the U.S., particularly northeast Washington, the Idaho panhandle, and northwest Montana. We should fine Canada for all this horrendous pollution.

Black Carbon density

[Noumenon]

Today was pretty bad. Reminded me of the summer of 2015. You could hardly go outside.

[crz]

https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/6467

The fire bugs will arrive in 3,2,1, to explain how fire is the ONLY way to manage forests.

[Billthedrill]

Winds from the NE until next Wednesday. After which they’re predicted to be from the south. Where there are also fires. :-(

[rktman]

NASA infrared sat detects heat! Who knew? Anyway, we had about two weeks straight of bad smoke from the Cal fires. Nice today.

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

I am no firebug but unmanaged forests go through a cycle. When enough detritus stacks up at the bottom a fire comes through and destroys what is there. Things then regrow. Cycle of life kind of thing.

Don’t like that? Manage your forests. (Californidiots)

[Noumenon]

Looks like we have to wait for mid or late September rains.

[jmacusa]

It’s one of the way, yeah. It’s called ‘’controlled burn’’. People have been doing for a very long time.

[LukeL]

Think of how fast one dried up Christmas Tree can go up in flames. Now picture 30-50 years or more of brush that still has sap and resin in it and add a very dry summer. Then add liberal EPA laws.

[crz]

Ya like the one in NM a few years ago. That went real well.

[jmacusa]

Sh!t happens.

[Fungi]

And?

[crz]

I guess it does! After being told to NOT light it up, they did.

[moonhawk]

It needs to be done right, or, yes, it can go badly. Better to allow logging and thinning, etc. But the greenies have put the kibosh on that, to the point that’s it’s too late in some forests, without a major change in policy.

In the lasr year, I’ve spent five days doing controlled burns and 10 days on wildfires. Believe it or not, It’s not easy to burn a forest unless conditions are right. the trick is doing control burns when the conditions are right, not to wet, not too dry.

That burn in Los Alamos was done by amateurs.

What’s your solution?

[fireman15]

Winds from the NE until next Wednesday. After which they’re predicted to be from the south. Where there are also fires. :-(

It has been blowing the smoke to us for the past several days. I thought that this was an interesting quote from the article,

“White clouds reflect light. But once black carbon is picked up by clouds, it causes them to absorb light. The clouds are so effective at doing this that they can absorb one million times more sunlight than CO2 and can change cloud and rain patterns.”

Somehow the author failed to mention that filtering the sunlight lowered our predicted day time highs by around ten degrees. So yes the clouds absorbing sunlight has a predictable result on the ground under them... it gets cooler. The ash also makes a mess on your car when it comes down in precipitation.

[JustaTech]

Yeah, like it means a fire is truly massive if it can be seen by satellite. We have satellites that can see the heat from your footprint on the ground.

[crz]

Much like we are doing here in AZ..or are late in doing.

Whole tree log it, or CTL with the removal of the brush, and then pile the brush and either chip it or burn the brush when conditions are right.

The problem I have with whole tree logging is that you cant do enough fast enough and the damage to the residual stand is bad if you have careless contractors-which is the problem they are having in AZ. In Ore, Ca, Wash, etc, and on steep ground, they have the best handle on how to harvest very steep ground.

With CTL, there is minimal ground disturb’ and the brush is packed out on the forwarders. The brush piles are done neatly for a better more complete burn. Besides that, 8 wheel drive equipment can be run in very soft ground conditions where whole tree requires 4X4 grapple skidders or clam bunk skidders. When it gets soft, rutting is extreme and the job has to be shut down. The point is, it has to be relatively dry to whole tree where as CTL it can be done also in wet conditions. Get my point?

Then, with the equipment made today, with brush mulchers that can be attached onto machinery such as tracked leveling machines, a very large portion of this countries public forests can be made fire proof-as some call it. They can tether machinery now so to climb very steep terrain.

Then, if they want to slash burn it, go ahead. The fuel is ground down onto the ground and it can be controlled. But, there are areas that will have to be managed through controlled burns.

Then, quit closing off access lanes like they are doing. We have closed off several NUMBERED USFS roads these past years.

Turn the management of these forests over to the local and county governments.

Case in point. I worked on the crew that did the Teacup sale in the Coconino south of Flagstaff AZ. Then, they had the fire break out in the Oak Creek Canyon. That fire ran up the hills till it got to the sale and stopped cold. We whole tree logged it, and whole tree logging simulates BURN. The fire crews didnt have enough fuel on that sale to start backfires. But the GD residual stand damage...

Back in the mid 80s, the eco freaks caused the closing down of all the sawmills around that area. So now, there is no market.

And now the people around there live in fear of fire. Believe me, if it ever gets going in Flag, it aint gonna be stopped very easy.

I got back from Ore three weeks ago digging fire breaks. Right now, the fellow I work for part time, is out on the Ferguson fire. He was supposed to be relieved since he has been there since that fire broke out. They wont let him go as the newbies coming in are green and need to be trained. There is more people going to die as a result of that states eviro wacko policy. I also got one friend in NV, and two in northern Cal fighting fires.

But what the hell. Its not them suffering is it now?

[Born to Conserve]

The “will arrive in 3, 2, 1,” people are such a holes. Whatever position they take, I take the opposite. It’s good sport.

These are the people who want to tax you to pay for expensive forest management without burning. They are lovers of big government when it benefits them. “3, 2, 1, whine, whine, whine”.

Freeloaders.

[zeestephen]

Here in Seattle, we were getting choked on smoke from northern California last week.

Now, we have smoke from BC, too.

Last summer, the smoke from BC was so bad we had several weeks when the sky was literally orange in color.

What makes it even more painful is that after a hot summer everyone in Seattle looks forward to 3-4 weeks of cooler pristine air drifting down from Canada in late August and September, before the autumn rains start.

Instead, for two summers in a row, the air from Canada is literally filthy.

It was so bad last year, we had to wipe up micro-ash on our window sills every day for weeks.

[21twelve]

My son was in a store in Seattle the other night. Some lady was ranting about how the orange sky is “orange Trump’s” fault - going on and on, global warming, etc. “Trump is going to make the whole world orange, just like him.”

“Yeah Dad - I was almost going to mention that the smoke was from Canada, and unless Trump invaded them - it probably wasn’t his fault.”

Makes for a pretty moon and sunsets though. Sucks for the older folks with breathing issues.