DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z May 20, 2014
SMOKE: Central Plains: An area of light density smoke was seen extending from eastern Colorado across northwest Kansas into southeast Nebraska. The exact extent of the smoke is quite uncertain due to some clouds in the area and the lack of a well defined boundary to the smoke edge. This is remnant smoke from the Skunk fire in southeast Arizona. Southern Canada/Northern Plains: An area of light remnant smoke from several days of agricultural burning in southern Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba and North Dakota was seen over the region. There was possibly also some light sulfate mixed in with the smoke as suggested by aerosol models. Alaska: An expansive plume of moderate to dense smoke was detected this morning form a rapidly growing fire on the Kenai peninsula in southern Alaska. The plume was moving mainly to the south into the northern Gulf of Alaska. AEROSOLS: Alaska: An area of aerosol was seen over western Alaska and the Bering Sea late last evening. It is believed that this may be smoke from large wildfires burning in eastern Siberia but there is some uncertainty as to the composition. A plume of resuspended volcanic ash was noted originating from the Novarupta volcano. This is not a new eruption but resuspended ash from the massive 1912 eruption. This plume was extending to the southeast across Kodiak island into the northern Gulf of Alaska. Ruminski 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.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/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