Saturday, May 15, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0315Z May 16, 2010

North Central US/Southern Canada:
A very large area of thin density aerosol was still visible this afternoon
and early evening across much of southern and southwestern Canada from
south central Ontario Province to southern Alberta Province. The aerosol
also appeared to cover the far northern portion of Montana, North Dakota,
Minnesota, and the northern UP of Michigan as well as Lake Superior. This
aerosol is likely composed at least partly of remnant smoke from fires
the past few days in central Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Gulf of Mexico:
The residual smoke from Mexican/Central American fires which was visible
earlier this morning along the western portion of the Gulf of Mexico
and southern Texas was no longer discernible later in the day due to
cloudiness. Farther to the south, some smoke from the Mexican/Central
American seasonal fires was still visible mainly over the Bay of Campeche.

Eastern US:
The swath of aerosol, possibly composed of residual smoke from the Central
American and/or southeastern US fires, stretches along a frontal boundary
from Tennessee/Kentucky/Alabama to North Carolina and eastward off the
coast. Also just to the north of this cold front over parts of Virginia,
the Delmarva Peninsula, and just off the coast a light aerosol can be
seen. It is not known at this time if this is remnant smoke or some
other aerosol.

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.