Saturday, March 3, 2012

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z March 4, 2012

Southern Florida/Cuba:
Many seasonal fires were analyzed during the day across Cuba. Numerous
thin density smoke plumes moved in a northerly direction and off the
north coast of Cuba. A few of these smoke plumes passed across portions
of the Florida Keys and headed toward the mainland of southern Florida.

Arkansas/Oklahoma:
The most concentrated area of fires and smoke plumes seen in satellite
imagery during the day was across portions of Oklahoma and Arkansas. Most
of the smoke plumes in this region moved in a southeasterly direction.

Western Texas:
A small patch of thin density blowing dust originated from point sources
in western Texas between Lubbock and Midland and moved to the southeast
during the afternoon.

Western US/Eastern Pacific:
An aerosol of unknown origin and composition was seen in GOES-East visible
imagery during the late afternoon and early evening moving to the south
across a large region extending from northern Nevada and southern Idaho
westward across southern Oregon and northern California and offshore
over the eastern Pacific. Additional aerosols were present moving to
the northeast along and off the central California coast. There is some
possibility that the aerosol across this region is dust which has been
transported aloft across the Pacific Ocean from Asia.

JS


THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT
AREAS SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME
DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE
FIRE..TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST
ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF
THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO
THE SOURCE FIRE 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
ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT 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.