DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1500Z July 17, 2012
Canada/North Central US: A large area of dense to moderately dense smoke is located from central Alberta, throughout Saskatchewan into central and southern Manitoba where it elongates becoming ribbon-like through the north-central US as well as southern Ontario where it is obscured by clouds. A detached area of smoke is situated over central British Columbia. A thin area of light to moderately dense smoke hugs the western coast of the Hudson Bay. One small area of light smoke is currently between Maine and Newfoundland and moving to the west. It is likely that all of the smoke mentioned above is from the numerous wildfires through northern Alberta and along the Saskatchewan/Manitoba border. Central US: A large area of unknown aerosols is located over the central US. Models show this is made of sulfates but it is likely that this is mixed with remnant smoke from fires in the western US and Canada. -Salemi 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