DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z July 5, 2009
Alaska/NW Canada: Large amounts of thin to moderate smoke cover a large portion of central and SE AK as well as the source regions of the Yukon Valley fires in NW AK. This area is moving generally SE and covers all of SW Yukon Territory. A well developed cyclone over SW NW Territories flattens the area out in a thin line of thin smoke that covers northern BC, N Alberta, but then expands in the “warm” sector over the S portions of the NW Territories, covering all of Great Slave Lake. The leading edge of smoke appears to be obscured by cloudy conditions over Lake Athabasca in N Saskatchewan. Oregon: Thin smoke from the Trinity fire in NW CA...though still connected to the source has produced a large area of thin smoke that covers the central 1/3 of Oregon from the Cascades to Blue Mtns and southward. There may be some mixed smoke/clouds in central WA, but it is difficult to determine the exact leading edge as the plume moves NE. SO2: Alaska: An arc of aerosols is clearly SO2 due to height and motion compared to lower level smoke...but extends from large pocket over the Arctic Ocean just offshore of the NW tip of AK where the Brooks Range ends. The SO2 then curls toward the SE over the Central Brooks Range to the large fires in the upper Yukon River Valley across N Yukon Territory and currently curving over the NW Branch of the Great Bear Lake. Northern US Plains: A strip of SO2 no more than 20km wide can be seen between Cut Bank, MT to the N Black Hills of SD, to Sioux City,IA...here the strip wides (to about 50km wide) and turns more due E across Central IA to Chicagoland, across Detroit, MI to Lake Erie. Sand/Dust: The Saharan Air Layer (SAL) has stretched clear across the tropical Atlantic Ocean with the leading edge of thin to moderate sand/dust covering the Turk and Caicos and southern islands of the Bahamas, S Cuba (including Gitmo Bay), covering Jamaica, and just about to reach the Nicaraguan coast, but already affecting the northern bend of Panama. Gallina More information on the areas of smoke described above as well as others can be found at the locations listed below. 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