Thursday, May 14, 2015

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z May 15, 2015

SMOKE:
Western Canada/Central Canada/Northern Plains:
Light density remnant smoke continues to be widespread throughout western
and central Canada.  Thin residual smoke from wildfires in western
Canada and elevated residual trans-Pacific smoke from Asia can be seen
in southeastern Yukon, the Northwest Territories, British Columbia,
northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and eastern Montana. Within
this area of light density remnant smoke, heavy density smoke can be
seen moving to the southwest from a significant wildfire southwest of
Prince George that was ignited May 9th.  GOES-13/GOES-15 satellites
continue to show a strong infrared signal in relation to this wildfire.
Less  impressive wildfires continue to persist in northern British
Columbia producing light density smoke plumes that are moving to the
northwest.  A wildfire with a moderate density smoke plume was observed
along the Alberta/Saskatchewan border moving north.

Western Gulf of Mexico:
A large area of light density residual smoke mixed with Saharan dust
can be seen spanning from the Bay of Campeche to the Texas coastline.
This area of residual smoke was moving to the northwest and originated
from numerous agricultural/prescribed burns in Central America and oil
exploration in the Bay of Campeche.

-Cronin


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.