Monday, May 25, 2015

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0300Z May 26, 2015

SMOKE
Western Canada/Central Canada/US:
A large area of light to heavy-density smoke is seen this evening from
the numerous wildfires burning in Yukon, western Northwest Territories,
northern British Columbia, northern Alberta, and central/northern
Saskatchewan (notably the wildfire near Garson Lake). This smoke covers
parts of northeast Alaska and much of northeast British Columbia,
Yukon, western  NW Territories, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The
smoke spills over the border into the northern Plains in North Dakota
and Montana. Moderate and dense patches of smoke were embedded within
this larger area and mostly confined to east central Alberta, central
Saskatchewan and west central Manitoba. It should be noted that there
is considerable cloud cover over much of the smoke/fire area which is
hindering smoke detection and accurate smoke boundaries.

Gulf of Mexico:
An area of light to medium-density remnant smoke from the seasonal burning
in Central America was visible moving NW over the southwest Gulf of Mexico
extending from the Yucatan Peninsula to the Texas and Louisiana coasts.

OTHER AEROSOL:
Alaska:
A fairly broad area of aerosol was seen extending mostly in a north/south
direction that extended from the vicinity of the Bering Straight southward
through the Bering Sea, across the Aleutians and into the western Gulf
of Alaska. The appearance of this aerosol most closely matches dust
transported from Asia in the NASA aerosol model, although there could
be some smoke also mixed in.

Washington/Oregon:
An unknown aerosol was detected this evening along the Oregon/Washington
border and moving to the east.

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.