DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z July 16, 2015
SMOKE Canada/Atlantic Ocean: A large area of light to moderate density smoke stretches across northeast Alberta, southeast Northwest Territory, northern/central Saskatchewan/Manitoba and into northwest Ontario. Heavier concentrations extend across a small area of northeast Alberta, northwest Saskatchewan and southeast Northwest Territory. Another heavier density area stretches over east central Saskatchewan and into west central Manitoba. A final area of light density smoke extends across the Canadian Maratimes and into the Atlantic Ocean. Alaska: Light density residual smoke from several large wildfires concentrated across central Alaska and burning for the last few days/week is visible covering most of northern Alaska and into northern Yukon, Northwest Territory and across Nunavut/northern Hudson Bay. The smoke over Nunavut/northern Hudson Bay may be mixed in with residual smoke from the Saskatchewan wildfires. The smoke extends as far north across Alaska as the Beaufort Sea and west into the eastern Chukchi Sea. 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/Texas coastline. Also seen in imagery is dust moving across the southeast and off the Atlantic coast. This dust may be mixed in with other aerosols. 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