Monday, May 31, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z June 1, 2010

Northeast US:
Dense remnant smoke from wildfires in Quebec was moving north through
eastern Rhode Island, Massachusetts, across much of New Hampshire and
Vermont and into southern Maine.

Alaska/Northern Canada:
Moderately dense smoke from numerous wildfires over Alaska and the
Yukon Territory stretched from northern Alaska and the northern Yukon
Territory into the Northwest Territories before becoming light across the
eastern portion of the Northwest Territories, extreme southwest Nunavut
to Hudson Bay.  Isolated heavy smoke could be found in the immediate
vicinity of several of these fires.

Mid Atlantic/Tennessee, Ohio and Lower Mississippi Valleys/Southern
Plains:
While containing some light residual smoke from fires in Quebec, the
bulk of the aerosol covering this large area was of unknown origin
and composition.

Southwest Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche:
Light residual smoke from fires in central America stretched northward
from the Bay of Campeche into the western Gulf of Mexico.

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.