Sunday, June 9, 2013

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1800Z June 9, 2013

***PLEASE NOTE: GOES-13 has been replaced with GOES-14. GOES-14 is
centered at 00N105W which is 30 degrees further west than GOES-13. This
position has an impact on the ability to detect smoke, particularly light
smoke in the evening, compared to GOES-13. It is possible that areas of
light smoke that would be detected previously are now not discernible.***

Mexico:
A large area of thin remnant smoke is visible over northern/northwest
Mexico and the Gulf of California. This smoke is from fires burning in
western and northwest Mexico.

New Mexico/West Texas/Northeast Mexico:
An area of thin smoke mixed with blowing dust was seen over north central
to southeast New Mexico, west Texas, and northeast Mexico. The smoke has
mostly come from the Thompson Ridge fire in northern New Mexico. Blowing
dust could be seen just west and southwest of El Paso, TX.

Southern Saskatchewan to East Oklahoma:
An aerosol that is believed to mostly be elevated dust, possibly with
some being from Asia and some being from the High Plains, was seen from
south Saskatchewan/east Montana southeast across the northern and central
Plains to eastern Oklahoma.

Canada:
A large plume of light to heavy density smoke is visible as a result of
numerous wildfires taking place in central Manitoba. The smoke is moving
north, towards Hudson Bay. Remnant smoke ranging from light to moderate
density is also visible from the previous days fires is also still
present in the provinces of central Nunavut, Manitoba, NE Saskatchewan,
and Ontario.

Gulf of Mexico/Southeast US Coast:
A large area of Saharan dust is visible over the western/southern
Caribbean and the eastern Gulf of Mexico stretching northeastward across
central and northern Florida and along the coast of the Southeast US.

Central/Eastern Canada:
An extensive area of thin to moderately dense smoke continued to be seen
from southern Nunavut/western Hudson Bay southeast across Manitoba,
Ontario, southern Hudson Bay, western Quebec, and the northern Great
Lakes. This smoke comes from several wildfires burning in northwest
Ontario and northern Manitoba. The smoke seen over southern Hudson
Bay/west central Quebec likely had wrapped north across Nunavut several
days ago and is now sinking southward again. Most of the rest of the
smoke is spreading northwest (across Nunavut) and southeast (towards
the Northeastern US).

Alaska:
An aerosol stretched southwest-northeast across central Alaska/northern
and central Yukon Territory/northwest Northwest Territories. This aerosol
may be a mixture of Asian smoke and possibly some Asian dust based on
aerosol models.

Sheffler

THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS
OF 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.