Sunday, April 18, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z April 18, 2010


Northern Plains through Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and Mid-Atlantic:
An elongated plume of aerosols mixed with remnant light smoke was
seen in this morning's visible satellite imagery from northern Manitoba
southeastward into the mid-west and mid-Atlantic states. Again, the origin
and general composition of this plume is unknown but is likely to contain
smoke at this point from the fires that have been burning the past few
days across the northern Great Plains and southern Canada. There is an
narrow swath of a more moderate type of plume from northern Wisconsin
through southern Indiana which is likely to be enhanced from last night's
fires just north of that region.

Southeast US and Gulf Sates:
Light, remnant smoke could be seen across areas of the southeast and into
the northern Gulf of Mexico this morning. The origin of this plume is
most likely from fires that have burned across the southeast the past few
days as well as from the fires seen across the eastern Tennessee Valley.

Western Kansas:
An area of mostly light smoke was located across the western part of
Kansas this morning. With southeasterly surface winds there this morning,
this smoke was most likely from the numerous fires that were seen last
night through the eastern part of the state as well as in Missouri. There
could even be more moderate smoke through the area but with clouds over
the region it makes it difficult to detect.

-Belge


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.