DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z March 21, 2011
Gulf of Mexico: The large area of aerosol, believed to be composed at least in part from remnant smoke, crossed the state of Florida from the Atlantic Ocean and moved over the eastern Gulf of Mexico. It appeared to dissipate somewhat as the day progressed. The numerous agricultural fires over the last few days are the likely source of any smoke present in this area. This area of possible smoke was not included in the graphical analysis due to the uncertainty of it being primarily smoke. South Central and Southeastern US: Fires producing visible smoke plumes in satellite imagery were scattered across the region stretching from Oklahoma and eastern Texas eastward to Georgia and Florida. Cloudiness in several spots in this region did interfere some with smoke detection in satellite imagery. JS 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