Saturday, July 23, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 24, 2011

Eastern Northwest Territories:
Several wildfires to the east of the Great Slave Lake are continuing to
emit moderately dense to dense smoke which moved initially to the north
and eventually to the northeast and east. The smoke became less dense
as it spread into central Nunavut and as far as the northern portion of
Hudson Bay just prior to sunset.

Ontario:
A large wildfire continues to burn in western Ontario and is producing an
area of thin to moderately dense smoke that was moving to the southwest
early in the day. Cloudiness moving across the region interfered with
additional determination of the density and extent of the smoke. A
few other fires were detected in satellite imagery over western Ontario
through brief breaks in the clouds, but smoke information was not possible
during the afternoon given the amount of cloud cover in the area.

Central US to Mid-Atlantic States:
A large area of aerosol is visible in the central US and mid Atlantic
regions including much of the Ohio river valley, New England states,
Virginia, and the Carolinas. The aerosol is believed to be primarily
composed of haze and urban pollution, though fires in the eastern
Carolinas and southeastern Georgia could be partially contributing to
some of the aerosol particularly along and off the Southeast and Middle
Atlantic coastal areas. The aerosol extends eastward well offshore into
the western Atlantic.

North Central US:
Patches of aerosol of unknown origin and composition were visible in
between cloudy areas from Nebraska and northern Iowa northward to North
Dakota and Minnesota near the Canadian border.

Alaska:
A few fires were analyzed in satellite imagery during the day over
central Alaska but widespread cloudiness interfered with additional
fire and smoke detection. A couple of fires were analyzed just south
of Fairbanks with smoke briefly visible through breaks in the clouds
extending northward over at least a portion of Fairbanks.

JS/Ramirez

THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT
AREAS SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME
DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE
FIRE..TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST
ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF
THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO
THE SOURCE FIRE 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
ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT 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.