Tuesday, August 10, 2010

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1602Z August 10, 2010

Saskatchewan fires:
A large area of stratus covers the fires of SE Northwest Territories,
N Saskatchewan, and NW Manitoba.  This obscures detection of the fires
and associated smoke except at the peripheries of the cloudy area...these
weather conditions could also be reducing the fires' intensity overall.
Below are areas of smoke that can be seen.

Northern Canada:
Dense smoke can be seen over extreme N Nunavut and Queen Maud Gulf onto
King William Island. Thin to moderately dense smoke can be seen Eward
over the NE tip of continental Nunavut and Southhampton Island as well as
west to the NW Territory boarder with Nunavut.  Thin to moderate smoke can
be seen southeastward across the SE portion of the NW Territories into N
Saskatchewan and NW Manitoba over the stratus clouds in the source region.

Upper Great Lakes:
Thin smoke can be seen centered over Lake Superior extending SW over
the Arrowhead of MN and E across SE Ontario and into extreme SW Quebec.
This smoke is moving due East.

Gulf of Maine:
A narrow band of thin to moderate smoke can be seen just a few miles SE
of the Nova Scotia Coast extending SE into E MA over the Gulf of Maine
and Cape Cod... this smoke is moving S across MA into RI and SE across
the ocean behind a band of weak midlevel clouds.


Southern Mid-Atlantic/Lower Appalachians:
A large area of moderate haze and pollution with psbl remnant smoke can
be seen across MD, DE, VA, and NC extending into the Eastern slopes of the
NC and SC Appalachians.  This area is elongating/shearing from SW to NE.

Gallina


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.