DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z MAY 9, 2009

Western Gulf of Mexico/Southeastern Texas/Southern Louisiana:
More large batches of smoke of mainly thin density were visible again this
morning moving northward from southeastern Mexico and Central America
across the Bay of Campeche and into the western Gulf of Mexico. Some
of the smoke appeared to nearly reach the southern coast of Louisiana
as well as the southern tip of Texas. It is likely that more smoke had
spread farther inland over Louisiana and Texas, but a better determination
of the extent could not be made from satellite imagery due to a lack of
contrast between the thin smoke and the land background.

Eastern Gulf of Mexico:
A patch of thin smoke, likely emanating from fires yesterday over Cuba,
was observed spreading northward over the east central Gulf of Mexico.

South Central Canada/Northern Plains:
A swath of aerosol of unknown composition was detected early this morning
in GOES-West imagery with the favorable low sun viewing angle extending
from central Saskatchewan Province of west central Canada across eastern
Montana and the Dakotas to Minnesota, eastern Nebraska, and Iowa. It
is not known how far southeast this aerosol extended since it is not
detected in GOES-East imagery.

Southern California:
The large wildfire near Santa Barbara continues to emit smoke this
morning. However, due to the presence of low clouds along the coast of
southern California, a more precise determination of density and extent
of the smoke could not be made using satellite imagery.

JS


THE FORMAT OF THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS BEING MODIFIED. IT WILL NO LONGER
DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS PLUMES THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES. THESE
PLUMES ARE DEPICTED IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE:

JPEG:   http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/hms.html
GIS:    http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm
KML:    http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html

THIS TEXT PRODUCT WILL CONTINUE TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE
WHICH HAVE BECOME DETACHED FROM AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE
SOURCE FIRE, TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. IT WILL ALSO
STILL INCLUDE DESCRIPTIONS OF BLOWING DUST.

ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THESE CHANGES OR THE SMOKE TEXT
PRODUCT IN GENERAL SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov

Unless otherwise indicated:

Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.

Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.

A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.

Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.