Smoke from the fires in Oregon and California has drifted far west out over the Pacific Ocean. The plume looks yellowish against the white cloudy background in this SeaWiFS image, acquired on July 29, 2002.

Tropical Storm Elida lies to the south of the smoke plume. A number of ship tracks—clouds formed from the exhaust of ships’ smokestacks—can be seen north and west of the smoke plume.

Image courtesy the SeaWiFS Project, NASA GSFC, and ORBIMAGE

Instrument: 

OrbView-2 - SeaWiFS