DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1400Z June 20, 2014
Smoke: Canada: A large area of smoke is situated over north-central Canada with a ribbon extending south to the US border. The smoke originates in the Northwest Territories from the numerous wildfires near the Great Slave Lake and in this area the smoke is dense. As the smoke extends to the east across Nunavut and the Hudson Bay the density decreases to moderately dense and by the time it reaches the US border near eastern New York and Vermont it has become light in density. There is another smaller area of smoke which originates from a few wildfires in the western portion of the Northwest Territories near the Yukon border. This area of smoke is light to moderately dense and spreads east to west. Blowing Dust: Gulf of Mexico: There is a large area of Saharan dust which extends from the Atlantic, through the Caribbean and covers most of the lower Gulf of Mexico. It appears to be shifting to the north and is approaching the Texas coast. Aerosols: US: There are several areas of unknown aerosols throughout the United States. The first is situated over Nebraska and Kansas. The other is over the southern United States including Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Models suggest these areas may contain remnant smoke from the numerous agricultural burns near the Mississippi River valley and the southeastern US, blowing dust from the western US and other unknown sulfates. -Salemi 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