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