Saturday, May 8, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1605Z May 8, 2010

Gulf of Mexico:
Remnant smoke from fires in Mexico and Central America was seen over the
western Gulf of Mexico and along the southeast Texas coast extending
eastward along the Gulf coast to the Florida panhandle. Some of the
remnant smoke pushing northward from the Yucatan Peninsula over the
western Gulf of Mexico was of moderate density.

US East Coast:
Another area of remnant smoke from the Mexican and Central American fires
possibly mixed with other aerosols was located along the East coast. It
streched from just east of Florida along the South Carolina and North
Carolina coasts to just east of southern New Jersey.

Southwest Canada to Central US:
A thin, unknown aerosol could be seen stretching from northeast British
Columbia southeastward across Alberta/Saskatchewan and through the Central
US Plains reaching as far as Missouri. The origin of this aerosol is
also undetermined at this time.

-Sheffler



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.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/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.