Monday, July 5, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 06, 2010

Alaska:
Cloudiness moved into the region of northwestern Alaska where active
fires were analyzed during the day. As a result smoke was not visible
in satellite imagery this afternoon and evening. The area of what was
believed to be light smoke observed in morning satellite imagery extending
from northern Alaska into the Beaufort Sea was no longer discernible in
satellite imagery this evening.

Northwest into Central Canada:
A large area of smoke from fires in northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba
continues to be visible extending from northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba
provinces northeastward over Hudson Bay and eastward over northern Ontario
and west central Quebec Province. The smoke was mainly thin to moderately
dense, but was dense closer to the fires. The other patches of smoke which
were seen this morning extending from the Arctic Coast, including Parry,
Victoria and Banks Islands, down through western Northwest Territory was
not visible late this afternoon and evening. Areas of cloudiness scattered
across the region from northwestern to eastern Canada interfered with
the extent of the smoke in satellite imagery.

Eastern Canada:
The area of light smoke visible this morning across southern portions
of Baffin Island was no longer visible this afternoon and evening. This
was likely residual smoke from the fires in central Canada over the past
several days.

Central and Eastern Great Lakes/Ohio and Tennessee Valleys/Mid-Atlantic
Region/Northeast:
A broad area of aerosol continues to be seen circulating clockwise over
this region under a persistent upper level ridge axis. Trajectories for
the past several days no longer indicate a direct connection to any of the
larger smoke producing fires  over Canada or the US so it is now believed
that much of this aerosol is composed of other atmospheric pollutants
than smoke. However, smoke was analyzed in this region within the past
several days so it is possible that there still may be some very thin
residual smoke trapped under the stagnant ridge axis.

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.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.