Wednesday July 15, 2015

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z July 15, 2015

SMOKE

Canada/Northern US/Atlantic Ocean:
A large area of light to medium density smoke stretches across Alberta,
Saskatchewan and into the southern sections of the Northwest Territory.
Another area extends across Nunavut south into northeast Manitoba,
most of Ontario and into the Great Lakes region.   The heavier smoke
stretches over northwest regions of Saskatchewan and a small section of
east central Alberta.   Another heavier density smoke region extends over
the western Hudson Bay and south into northern Ontario.   Lighter density
smoke stretches as far south as northeast Iowa, northern Illinois and
as far east as western Quebec and over most of Michigan.    The third
and final area of smoke seen in satellite imagery extends across the
Canadian Maratimes and into the Atlantic with the heavies smoke band
currently off the coast.

Alaska:
Smoke from several large wildfires concentrated across central Alaska
could be seen covering most of northern/central Alaska.  The smoke extends
north into the Beaufort Sea and west into the eastern Chukchi Sea.
The heavier density smoke is seen near the concentration of wildfires
with another larger area to the north of these wildfires.

DUST:
Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico/Southeast US:
Large area of Saharan dust is moving westward across the Atlantic, the
Caribbean and into the southern Gulf of Mexico.   The dust is of light
density across the southern Gulf of Mexico and along the Mexico coastline.
Also seen in imagery is dust moving across the southeast and off the
Atlantic coast.

J Kibler


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.