Tuesday, April 14, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0215Z April 15, 2010


South Central US/Central Plains/Ohio Valley/Southeast:
Once again, many smoke producing fires were detected in satellite imagery
across a broad region including the Southeast, the South Central US,
the Central Plains, and the Ohio Valley. The smoke plumes were moving
in a clockwise direction around high pressure centered over western
Kentucky. The most significant smoke producing fires were over western
South Carolina, central Georgia, the Florida Panhandle, western Arkansas,
eastern and northeastern Oklahoma, eastern Kansas, and south central
Missouri.

Western to Central Canada:
An aerosol of unknown origin and composition was visible late this
afternoon with the favorable low sun angle in GOES-East imagery covering
a very large area from the northeastern Pacific inland across western and
central Canada including northern British Columbia, northern Alberta, and
northern Saskatchewan provinces, as well as areas farther to the north in
northwestern Canada. It is possible that the source for at least some of
this aerosol may be blowing dust transported across the Pacific from Asia.

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


 


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.