Amazon forest fire, red carbonated CO map of NASA

Fires in the Amazon rainforest are spreading fast and wide, black smoke from the fire spread to Sao Paulo more than 2,700 km. On August 20, dust and smoke obscured the midday sun, causing the sky of the city to suddenly darken, turning day into night.

Satellite images show that the entire Brazilian sky is covered with huge amounts of smoke, nearly half of the country is in darkness.

The severity of the massive fire in the Amazon forest over the past two weeks is clearly shown on NASA's rocket lab (JPL) monitoring map. Tracking CO from a height of 5,500m, this map shows areas with high CO concentrations that have spread tremendously from August 8-22.

Amazon forest fire, red carbonated CO map of NASA Picture 1

According to NASA's explanation, the colors in the map show CO gas density, with ppbv units representing the number of molecules of CO in 1 billion gas molecules being measured. Specifically, the CO density of 100 ppbv is expressed in blue, 120 ppbv is yellow and 160 ppbv is red.

NASA said, data in local units may be much higher. CO gas exists in the air for up to a month and can travel very far. At the same height as in this map, CO gas does not affect much the air we breathe but when pushed down by the strong wind, it can significantly affect air quality.

Although such CO density does not directly affect human health, it can bring long-term effects.

According to the US Consumer Safety Commission (CPSC), people will be directly affected, with headaches and dizziness when the CO density of 70,000 ppbv. When CO gas density is maintained at 150,000-200,000 ppbv, people can stun, lose consciousness and die.

Amazon forest fire, red carbonated CO map of NASA Picture 2

According to the Brazilian National Space Research Institute (INPE), the fire in the Amazon rainforest is spreading rapidly at a rate of 1.5 football fields per minute.

1. We are inhaling super fine dust PM2.5, the most dangerous dust in the world can penetrate into human body cells