DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z March 21, 2010
Middle Atlantic Region/Northeast/Offshore over western Atlantic: The large area of aerosol of rather thin density but unknown origin and composition which was detected in GOES-East visible imagery this morning was still seen late this afternoon extending from the Middle Atlantic coast to the east-northeast and well offshore of the Middle Atlantic and Northeastern US. Some of this aerosol was also noted inland across portions of easter North Carolina, eastern Virginia, eastern Maryland, and Delaware. However, the true extent of the aerosol inland was not known since the lack of contrast between the land surface and the aerosol makes it more difficult to detect than it is when it's over water. While the origin and composition of the aerosol is not known, it is possible that some remnant leftover smoke from the large number of daily seasonal fires burning over the South Central and Southeastern states may be contributing to it. Elsewhere...Clouds covered the South Central US today greatly limiting any fire and smoke detection in satellite imagery. Numerous fires along with more than 2 dozen smoke plumes were detected across the Southeast. For additional graphical information on these plumes please refer to the web links below. JS 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