Saturday, August 13, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0800Z August 13, 2011

Western Ontario:
Three wildfires burning in far western Ontario very near to the Manitoba
border are producing localized areas of thin to moderate density
smoke. The smoke is moving generally in the south direction.

Mid-Atlantic Coast:
The Lateral West fire in the Great Dismal Swamp along the Virginia-North
Carolina border continues to emit large amounts of moderately dense to
locally dense smoke. The smoke plume initially moves due north but then
takes on a circular motion in the clockwise direction as a result of a
surface high pressure system in the vicinity. Thin to moderate density
smoke extends as far north as southern Pennsylvania, covering much of
eastern Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. The smoke then moves offshore
into the western Atlantic, turns south, and then re-enters the US in
northeast North Carolina. Very dense smoke is observed in the southeast
and east central parts of Virginia.

Southeast US:
An aerosol of unknown composition and origin is visible in the far
northeast Gulf of Mexico and across northern Florida into the coastal
Atlantic. The boundaries of this aerosol are confined to the coasts
of Florida and Georgia by the stationary front that is positioned from
east to west off the coast of South Carolina. Smoke aerosols are also
present in the region from a few fires in northern Florida and southern
Georgia that were observed to be producing very localized smoke plumes
this morning.

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.