Tuesday, June 8, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1815Z June 8, 2010

Alaska/Northwestern Canada:
The large wildfires in the northern Yukon Territory and in eastern
Alaska were still seen producing very dense smoke this morning which was
spreading west and southwest across northeast Alaska. In addition, a large
plume of thin to moderate density remnant smoke likely originating from
these fires extended from just north of northwest Alaska southeastward
to extreme northern Manitoba and the western extremity of Hudson Bay.

East Central to Southeast Canada/Northeastern US:
Thin to moderate density smoke was observed around the edges of Hudson
Bay across parts of western Quebec/northern Ontario and stretched over
southeast Ontario/New York/Vermont/New Hampshire/Maine before reaching
out over the Atlantic. Here the remnant smoke plume joined other thin
smoke and mixed aerosols that had collected behind a frontal boundary and
extended northward across parts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Most
of the remnant smoke coming southeastward across Canada is believed to
be from the fires in Alaska/Yukon Territory but the lingering smoke and
aerosols along the frontal boundary are of unknown origin.

Southern Gulf of Mexico:
A mix of smoke and possibly other aerosols was present this morning over
much of the southern Gulf of Mexico stretching along an old frontal
boundary from the Straits of Florida to approximately 150 miles due
south of Louisiana. From here aerosols mixed with clouds and likely
other remnant smoke from Mexico over the western Gulf/Texas coast into
the Bay of Campeche.

Northern Gulf of Mexico/Southern US Plains/Southeast US:
A thin aerosol believed to be smoke from fires in the Southeast US
over the past few days was oriented from Oklahoma east to Arkansas
and then southeast across Mississippi/Louisiana to the west coast of
Florida. Another small area of remnant smoke was present just northeast
of Florida moving southwestward.

-Sheffler

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.