DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z January 6, 2023
SMOKE/AEROSOL: Florida/Gulf of Mexico/Cuba/Caribbean Sea/Eastern and Southern Mexico/Northwestern Central America/Pacific Ocean off the Southern Coast of Mexico and Northwest Central America… A sprawling area of thin density smoke and aerosol mix could be seen this morning over portions of southern and eastern Mexico and northwestern Central America and extending to the south well out over the Pacific Ocean. The smoke and aerosol mixture was also present over the Bay of Campeche and stretched to the east over the southern Gulf of Mexico and southern Florida. This smoke/aerosol mixture was likely due to industrial activities in Mexico and northwestern Central America along with some seasonal burning in those regions as well. In addition, some smoke was also noted emanating from oil rigs in the Bay of Campeche. Farther to the east, seasonal daily fire activity and industrial activities in Cuba was responsible for patches of thin density smoke/aerosol mixture which were primarily seen to the south of Cuba over the Caribbean Sea. JS THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF 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 map: https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg Smoke data: https://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/FIRE/web/HMS/Smoke_Polygons Fire data: https://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/FIRE/web/HMS/Fire_Points ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov