Tuesday, April 12, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1815Z April 12, 2011

Gulf of Mexico:
A frontal boundary is moving an area of light to moderate smoke away
from the Texas coast and into the Gulf of Mexico.   However, a majority
of the northern Gulf of Mexico from Louisiana through Florida is still
covered in an aerosol, which is believed to be light smoke.   A thin
line of moderate smoke is also moving westward, from Louisiana to Texas
along the coast.  It is highly probable this smoke is from the wildfires
in Texas, along with prescribed and agricultural burns along the Gulf
Coast states and Central America.

Atlantic Ocean:
A broad area of light aerosol, which is thought to be light smoke, is
visible over the Atlantic Ocean off of the Florida coast.  The source of
this smoke is probably from the agricultural burns in the southeastern
United States, Bahamas and Cuba.

Myrga

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.