DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1900Z March 17, 2011

US East Coast:
An area of mainly very light remnant smoke was seen extending from the
northwest Gulf of Mexico near Apalachicola eastward into the Atlantic
between Daytona and St Augustine and off the coast at least 500km.

California Coast:
An area of aerosol was seen this morning approaching and crossing the
West Coast from near San Francisco to Point Conception. Aerosol forecasts
from the Naval Research Lab in Monterey suggest this aerosol is dust
originating from East Asia.

Ruminski


Earlier Today:

Southeast US:
Thin smoke from yesterday's large amounts of fires over portions of
Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina was seen off the southeast coast
of the US this morning.

Gulf of Mexico:
An unknown mix of aerosols was present along a southward sinking frontal
boundary that was draped across the northern Gulf of Mexico, with the
aerosols seen from the Texas coast to northern Florida. These aerosols
could be a mix of smoke, dust, and other particles.

Western Great Lakes:
Thin remnant smoke was seen moving east and northeastward across northern
Illinois, north Indiana, southwest Michigan, and Lake Michigan. Another
smaller area of possible remnant smoke was present over southeast Lake
Superior. This smoke is believed to have come from the numerous amounts
of fires that were burning yesterday in the Central Plains, particularly
in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri.

Sheffler

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

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.