DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z July 13, 2009
Oklahoma/W Texas: Remnant smoke from the fires in Oklahoma over the past couple of days was seen this morning along much of the Texas/Oklahoma border along the Red River. The smoke also covered much of western Oklahoma, excluding the Panhandle, and extended to the southwest to the Big Bend area of west Texas. The smoke was mainly thin. New Mexico: Remnant thin smoke from yesterdays fires in Arizona and New Mexico was observed in two patches across north central and east central New Mexico. Northern California to Idaho: A narrow area of light aerosol was seen this morning extending from just south of the San Francisco Bay area to the northeast across central and northeast Nevada into eastern Idaho. It is difficult to determine the source or composition of the plume but based on afternoon data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), which detects SO2, and weather trajectories for the past few days, it is felt that the plume is predominantly smoke from the ongoing fires in Alaska. British Columbia to Great Lakes: An extensive area of aerosol was seen stretching from central Saskatchewan to the southeast across southern Lake Winnipeg and then along the northern Minnesota border across the western portion of the upper peninsula of Michigan and into central lower Michigan. Based on the OMI data noted above, it is felt that this plume is predominantly SO2, although it is possible that some smoke is mixed in. OMI data can be viewed at http://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/OMI/OMISO2/index.html Alaska: Remnant and recent smoke from the Alaskan fires was seen drifting to the northwest and covering much of the northwest portion of the state, mainly north of McGrath. The smoke was most dense roughly between Mt McKinley and Huslia. Eastern Canadian Maritimes: Two broad areas of remnant smoke were seen over the open waters of the north Atlantic and the Labrador Sea east of Newfoundland. An area of moderately dense to dense smoke was lifting north through the Labrador Sea toward the Davis Straight. A second area of lighter density smoke was seen extending from east of St John's Newfoundland northward to an area southwest of the southern tip of Greenland. All of this smoke has originated from large wildfires burning near Happy Valley Goose Bay on mainland Newfoundland the past few days. Ruminski 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