Friday, September 23, 2011

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1845Z September 23, 2011

Central Plains:
A thin aerosol was observed this morning from northwest Texas
extending northeastward across Oklahoma/southeast Kansas to central
Missouri. Aerosol models indicate this aerosol is most likely elevated
dust particles, but given the amount of fires in Kansas, north Oklahoma,
and northwest Texas yesterday it seems possible that some smoke could
also be mixed in.

North Central Canada:
With an upper low moving across the Canadian Arctic, an unknown aerosol
continued to progress eastward across southern Nunavut and northern
Hudson Bay. This is the same aerosol that has been seen moving across
Northwest Canada the past two days.

Aleutians/North Pacific:
An optically thick aerosol plume could be seen extending southeastward
across the Aleutians this morning in GOES-W and MTSAT imagery reaching as
far south as 40N/140W. This aerosol then wrapped northeastward behind
a frontal boundary across the Queen Charlotte Islands into British
Columbia. It is believed this aerosol is SO2 from a volcano in Kamchatka,
Russia.

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.