DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1815Z February 27, 2011
Gulf of Mexico: A large area of light aerosol covered most of the western and northern Gulf of Mexico this morning. This aerosol has been present for the last few days when viewing visible satellite imagery. The aerosol is believed to be composed of smoke from the gas flares in the Bay of Campeche along with smoke from agricultural burning from the United States, Mexico and Central America. Some embedded, higher-density aerosol/smoke patches are located in the western Gulf of Mexico, off of the Texas coast. Atlantic Ocean: An area of light aerosol, assumed to be remnant smoke from agricultural fires, is located off of the east coast of Florida, stretching from Cocoa Beach to Jacksonville. This aerosol is moving generally to the north. Myrga 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. THE SMOKE TEXT PRODUCT IN GENERAL SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THESE CHANGES OR THE SMOKE TEXT PRODUCT IN GENERAL SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov