Sunday, July 11, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1740Z July 11, 2010

Gulf of Mexico:
A band of primarily haze possibly mixed with some smoke from the Deepwater
Horizon spill site extends from south of Louisiana to the west coast of
central Florida.

U.S. Pacific Northwest:
Fire in central Washington state is producing a light to moderate
(occasionally dense) smoke plume in central Washington and extending
into northeastern Oregon and north central Idaho.

Saskatchewan/Manitoba/Ontario/Quebec and western New York State:
Numerous Saskatchewan wildfires continue to produce an area of light,
moderate and some dense smoke that extends toward the southeast into
Manitoba and then northeast into north central Ontario.  Light (with
some moderate smoke to the south) smoke originally from the Saskatchewan
fires also can be seen in southwestern Quebec, southern Ontario, and
western New York state (and a bit into north central Pennsylvania).

Alaska/Northwestern Canada:
Clouds make any smoke difficult to discern.  However fires continue
through central Alaska presumably accompanied by smoke plumes.




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.