Tuesday, May 20 2014

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

 


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.