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