Thursday, July 1, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1630Z July 01, 2010

Alaska/Northwestern and Central Canada:
A large area of moderately dense to dense smoke was visible spreading
to the west across the Yukon and Northwest Territories of northwestern
Canada, northern Alaska, and the Arctic Ocean. This smoke was primarily
believed to be leftover from large fires scattered over northern
Saskatchewan Province of central Canada. Additional smaller areas of
smoke were seen moving to the west and northwest from active fires
burning over northwestern Alaska. A band of thin density smoke closer
to the fires over northern Saskatchewan Province was seen mixed in with
cloudiness in the region. It is likely that even more smoke was present
across northwestern and north central Canada, but cloudiness prevented
detection in satellite imagery.

Central to Eastern Canada:
Leftover thin smoke likely from fires which had been burning over Quebec
Province and the fires mainly in northern Saskatchewan Province was
visible in morning satellite imagery across portions of Hudson Bay and
northern Quebec Province extending eastward to near the southern tip
of Greenland. More thin smoke extended south of Hudson Bay over east
central Ontario Province to the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan and
into Lower Michigan.

Central US to Mid Atlantic Region to off the Northeast Coast:
Very thin patches of an aerosol which is likely at least partly composed
of leftover smoke were seen extending in a narrow band from Kansas and
Oklahoma eastward to the Mid Atlantic region and curving northeastward
off the Northeast coast to far southeastern Canada. Cloudiness farther
to the south over the South Central and Southeastern US interfered with
smoke detection in satellite imagery. An additional narrow streak of
very thin smoke stretched from northern Illinois southeastward to the
Mid Atlantic region. These patches of leftover smoke were believed to
be from the fires burning in northern Saskatchewan Province of central
Canada and Quebec Province of southeastern Canada. Some of the smoke
over Kansas and Oklahoma may be due to numerous smaller fires burning
yesterday over central Kansas and west central Oklahoma.

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.