Monday, June 7, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0330Z June 8, 2010

Most Recent:
Alaska/Canada/Great Lakes:
A large and elongated area of light smoke remains over portions of
northern Alaska through the Northwest Territories stretching into
the western and central Great Lakes region.  There are areas of
embedded moderate smoke which are associated with fires along eastern
Alaska/western Canadian border and near Great Bear and Great Slave Lakes
where multiple fires were detected.

Eastern Canada/New England:
Two areas of detected smoke were observed in this evenings imagery; one
thin and elongated plume located between Montreal and Quebec, and the
other along the coast of New England.  It is possible that both may have
originated from the same fires burning across the Northwest Territories
and Alaska.

Gulf of Mexico:
A band of thin smoke and unknown aerosols was still seen stretched across
portions of Louisiana, coastal Mississippi/Alabama, and western Florida
and now extending across the central portion of the peninsula over to
the Atlantic Ocean. which is also noted to be on the southern side of
a stalled out frontal boundary.  The source of the smoke is believed
to be from several fires analyzed across LA/AR/MS.  Along the western
Gulf of Mexico thin smoke is seen and is likely as a result of a large
number of agricultural fires burning over Mexico and Central America.


Earlier Today:
Alaska/Canada/Great Lakes:
A large and elongated area of light smoke extends from northern Alaska
and the central Northwest Territories southeast into the northern
Plains and northern Great Lakes region. A moderate area of smoke
exists near the area of wildfires burning near the central Canada and
Alaska border. Another more elongated area of moderate smoke can be
seen in a band near Great Bear Lake and to points southeast of that.
Looking towards central/eastern Canada, a few additional areas of moderate
smoke can be seen just east of Reindeer Lake in northwest Manitoba and
near the Manitoba/Ontario border. The source for the large smoke plume
continues to be persistent fire activity over northern Saskatchewan,
the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Alaska.

Western Gulf of Mexico/Gulf Coast:
An area of mostly thin smoke covered the extreme western Gulf of Mexico
and northeast Mexico this morning.  The source for this smoke is believed
to be the large number of agricultural fires that continue over Mexico
and Central America.  Further to north and east, a band of thin smoke
and some aerosols can be observed along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana
into the Florida peninsula. This has set up right along the frontal zone
in that region. It is possible that some of this smoke and/or aerosols
may be remnant smoke from the fire activity over Mexico/Central America
over the past several days.


Warren

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.