Monday, July 20, 2015

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1730Z July 20, 2015

SMOKE:
Alaska:
An area of light-density smoke from the central Alaskan wildfires is
visible moving eastward in the Bay of Alaska, south of the base of the
Aleutian islands east over Kodiak Island, and as far east as Yakutat, AK.
The full smoke extent cannot be determined due to cloud cover in the
general area.

Canada:
Several areas of light-density smoke with embedded bands of medium
smoke were seen throughout northern/central Canada.  Light-density
smoke is visible affecting Nunavut, the NW Territories, Alberta,
and Saskatchewan with medium smoke visible in Nunavut, Saskatchewan,
and Manitoba. Light-density remnant smoke from Alaskan wildfires was
observed moving east from the Alaskan border into Yukon and the NW
Territories. This remnant smoke originates from the wildfires burning
in Alaska and Canada.

Eastern Canada:
A large area of light to medium-density smoke is distinguishable in
between heavy cloud cover in eastern Canada. Light-density smoke is
visible in Nunavut, Quebec, and NewFoundland. The heaviest smoke is
visible in the Davis Straight moving SW towards the Quebec coast. This
remnant smoke originates from the wildfires burning in Alaska and Canada
the last few weeks.

Central US:
A large band of light to medium-density smoke is visible traveling
SE across the north central US and south central Canada. Smoke is
visible extending from Manitoba through the Great Lakes into Ontario
with the heaviest smoke affecting Manitoba.  Light smoke is visible
in eastern Montana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and
Ontario. Another band of light-density smoke is visible further south
moving east through Nebraska and Kansas. This remnant smoke originates
from the wildfires burning in Alaska, Canada, and the Pacific NW.

DUST:
Central U.S:
Areas of Saharan dust are visible across much of the central U.S, seen
moving inland from the Gulf of Mexico into Texas and is moving east
towards the Mississippi Valley. The dust is visible as far north as
Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico:
Another surge of Saharan dust is seen moving across the Atlantic towards
the U.S. Its current extent appears to remain offshore of Florida as well
as into central portions of the Gulf of Mexico off of Texas and Louisiana.

AEROSOLS:
East Coast:
An area of unknown aerosols are visible off the Mid-Atlantic coast this
morning moving eastward extending from North Carolina to New Jersey. Its
a possibility that this plume is a mixture of Saharan dust that has been
moving through the east coast as well as remnant smoke coming down from
Canada, and general sulfates.

Oegerle


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.