Tuesday, July 7, 2009

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z July 7, 2009

Alaska/NW Canada:
Much of southeast and east central Alaska is covered in smoke this morning
from the numerous fires that continue to burn. The smoke extends south
across the Kenai Peninsula into the Gulf of Alaska and also to the east
into much of western Yukon in northwest Canada.

A thin ribbon of aerosol was also observed in an arc extending from the
northwest portion of British Columbia across the southeast tip of Yukon
and across much of Northwest Territory including Great Slave Lake. It
is not clear whether this is residual smoke or sulfur dioxide (SO2)
from the emissions from Sarychev volcano.

Pacific Northwest into southern Canadian prairies:
An area of aerosol, which is believed to be SO2, was seen in
morning visible imagery extending from the southwest corner of Oregon
northeastward into southeast Washington, northern Idaho and Montana and
into southern Alberta and Saskatchewan.

California:
Areas of smoke were seen from active fires still burning over
northern California at the confluence of Humboldt, Siskiyou and
Trinity counties. The smoke was mainly confined to the vicinity of the
fires. Smoke from a fire in northern Tulare county has spread out along
the west slopes of the Sierra Nevada across Tulare and Fresno counties.

Colorado:
A patch of very thin residual smoke was seen in early visible imagery
moving across eastern Colorado. This may be residual smoke from a fire
in central Utah yesterday.

Ruminski


More information on the areas of smoke described above as well as others
can be found at the locations listed below.

THE FORMAT OF THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS BEING MODIFIED. IT WILL NO LONGER
DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS PLUMES THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES. THESE
PLUMES ARE DEPICTED IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE:

JPEG:   http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/hms.html
GIS:    http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm
KML:    http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html

THIS TEXT PRODUCT WILL CONTINUE TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE
WHICH HAVE BECOME DETACHED FROM AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE
SOURCE FIRE, TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. IT WILL ALSO
STILL INCLUDE DESCRIPTIONS OF BLOWING DUST.

ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THESE CHANGES OR THE SMOKE TEXT
PRODUCT IN GENERAL 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.