Saturday, July 10, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z July 11, 2010

Gulf of Mexico/Southeastern US:
Light smoke from the Deepwater Horizon spill site has been moving east
across the northeastern Gulf of Mexico throughout the day where it then
begins to mix in with the dust and aerosols that were seen in the area
yesterday. This mixed area of aerosols has lingered off the coast of
Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina all day.

Central Canada:
The smoke associated with the fires in northern Saskatchewan was clearly
visible today. Several fires were producing dense smoke plumes that were
moving in the direction of Lake Winnipeg.

Ontario/Lower Great Lakes:
Remnant moderately dense smoke from yesterday's fires in northern
Saskatchewan was slowly drifting southeastward. The densest areas were
over southeastern Ontario, Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, and New York.

Eastern Canada:
The smoke that was seen yesterday across eastern Canada is now moving
eastward, off the coast of Newfoundland and out of our area.

Alaska/Northwestern Canada:
An area of light smoke from the numerous fires across Alaska now
stretches across the northern portions of Alaska and Yukon into the
Northwest Territories, where it moves southeasterly into northern Alberta.




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.