Monday, June 17, 2013

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1445Z June 17, 2013

Smoke:
Canada
Nearly all of Canada is covered with thin smoke from sources in N
Manitoba, W Quebec, W NW Territories, C Yukon Territory, and SW Alaska.
Only British Columbia, Northern, Western and  Southern Alberta, and W
Nunavut are relatively clear.  Below is a description of densities and
movement in particular regions of Canada/N Great Lakes.

Eastern Canada:
Thin smoke is racing due East under the base of a deep cyclone in the
Labrador Strait....the smoke covers the SE tip of Labrador and Quebec,
northern portion of Newfoundland and out to sea along the 52-53N parallel.

Central Quebec:
A pocket of thin to moderately dense smoke can be seen along the NW
periphery (50-52N, 70-75W) of the dense cloudy conditions over central
Southern Quebec.

Southern Manitoba/SW Ontario:
A 100km wide line of moderate to dense smoke (with a pocket of very dense
smoke over N Lake Winnipeg) from N Lake Winnipeg across Lake Nipigon to
near Sudbury, ON covering small portions/coastline of NE Lake Superior.

Manitoba:
A very large area of thin smoke mixed with cloud cover all of N
Manitoba and Hudson Bay... due to the nature of the fires (large but
isolated scattered hotspots) numerous streamers and other filaments
of moderate to dense smoke make very interesting shapes/streamers at
various altitudes... please see a visible Goes-West satellite loop...
that are too intricate to describe in detail.  In general the smoke is
slowly moving S and SE across Manitoba while smoke over Hudson Bay is
shifting S and SW.

East Central Alberta/N Saskatchewan:
A prolonged easterly fetch due to a cyclone over Alberta, has completely
shut down as the cyclone has filled and begins to shear out... due to this
cloud cover has eroded significantly exposing moderately dense smoke near
and south of the old cyclone center along the central Alberta/Saskatchewan
boarder and is moving East.  This pocket connects to to a E-W line across
N Saskatchewan that extends across Reindeer Lake into the large smoke
area described above in Manitoba.

Alaska/Arctic Ocean:
Remnant thin smoke from SW Alaskan fires with possible small contribution
from Siberian fires was detected north of the Brooks Range into the
Arctic Ocean.  It appears that the smoke is a bit lower in elevation
over N AK and is relatively stationary with a slight drift eastward.
Over the Arctic Ocean the smoke is a bit higher in elevation and is
moving E then ESE over the far NW Yukon Territory under the influence of
a developing cyclone dropping south along the Yukon/NW Territory boundary.

Other US Smoke plumes are still attached to their sources and can be
seen at the links below.

Gallina

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.