Tuesday, August 18, 2009

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0115Z August 19, 2009

North Atlantic:
Off the coast of New England, light haze/aerosols has been drifting off
the coastline for most of the day. Specifically, from off the coast of
North Carolina extending northeast to Nova Scotia.

California/Nevada:
Wildfires in the central region of the state, producing light to
moderately dense smoke, is also mixed in with blowing dust. The smoke
and dust is moving to the west and extends into western Nevada. Also,
there are small pockets of blowing dust in the central region of Nevada,
which is moving to the south.

Oregon:
A narrow band of aerosols/haze extends across the central region of the
state. The band is roughly 75km wide.

British Columiba:
Earlier this evening, wildfires in central and southern B.C. began
producing moderately dense to dense smoke plumes, and were seen moving to
the southeast at least 100km from their sources. Please see the websites
below for more information.



EVANS



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.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

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.