Wednesday, September 21, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z September 21, 2011

Great Lakes/Midwest/Central and Southern Plains:
As an upper low slowly progresses eastward across the north central
US states, GOES-W imagery this morning showed a plume of aerosol that
stretched from east Lake Superior/Lake Huron/Michigan southwest to
eastern Oklahoma/northwest Arkansas. Much of this aerosol is believed to
be elevated dust, sulfates, and other aerosols that have been transported
across the center of the country by the upper low.
Another patch of aerosol that does not seem to be connected is seen
over the eastern third of Texas. This aerosol could be very thin remnant
smoke from fires in the southern Plains but it cannot be certain.

Northwest Canada:
A plume of aerosol could be seen this morning lifting northeastward across
the Northwest Territories. It is not known whether this is elevated dust
particles from Asia or other unknown aerosols.

Sheffler


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.