DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z August 9, 2011
Far Eastern US/Western Atlantic: A large mass of aerosol of unknown origin and composition was visible along the far eastern US and offshore over the western Atlantic. Most of this aerosol was believed to be general pollutants with little contribution from smoke. The exception to this is a long dense smoke plume which was visible emanating from a large fire in the Great Dismal Swamp along the Virginia-North Carolina border southeast of Suffolk, VA. The smoke from this fire moved well offshore over the western Atlantic. Northwestern Mexico/Southwestern Arizona: An unknown aerosol was visible late in the afternoon and early evening moving to the north across northwestern Mexico, the northern Gulf of California, and over southwestern and south central Arizona. This may be blowing dust kicked up by winds from strong storms in the region. Western and Northwestern Canada: Several fires were analyzed over far northern Alberta and in the Northwest Territories of northwestern Canada mainly to the east of Great Slave Lake. Significant cloudiness in the region limited smoke detection in satellite imagery during the day. Very late in the day, an aerosol was visible across British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. The origin and composition of this aerosol could not be determined at this time. It is also not known if any leftover smoke from the fires over northern Alberta and to the east of Great Slave Lake were contributing to this aerosol. JS 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