GLAS long-range transport observation of the 2003 California forest fire plumes to the northeastern US

In October 2003, a series of forest and brush fires in southern California burned an area of over 2750 km 2 with plumes reaching up to 6 km in altitude over the Pacific Ocean. On October 27, 2003, the Santa Ana (foehn) conditions flowing westward out of the desert that fueled the combustion ceased and a portion of the smoke plumes turned and headed eastward. The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) on ICESat provided aerosol profiles of the smoke along numerous ICESat tracks acquired throughout the week following the reversal of the smoke plume. The GLAS observations place the height of the smoke aerosols at <7 km as the smoke moved eastward over North America. GLAS measurement cross-sections often preceded or trailed the main smoke pulses by a few hours and capturing the four-dimensional picture of this moving target was only possible by combining multiple sensor observations with back trajectory calculations.