DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z March 22, 2012
Gulf of Mexico: A large storm system over the central US was seen this morning drawing a thin aerosol northward across the western Gulf of Mexico. This aerosol is believed to be a mixture of remnant smoke from numerous ag fires in the Yucatan Peninsula, smoke from oil rigs in the Gulf of Campeche, and also possibly some blowing dust seen off the Texas coast. In addition, several small patches of smoke could be seen just northwest of Cuba that are believed to be from agricultural burning there yesterday. Northeast/Mid-Atlantic: An unknown aerosol was present from the southern Chesapeake Bay region northeastward across the Atlantic along the southern edge of a band of clouds that was hovering over Long Island and southeast Massachusetts. Sheffler 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