Tuesday, July 21, 2015

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z July 21, 2015

SMOKE:
Alaska:
An area of light-density smoke from the central Alaskan wildfires
is visible moving SE in the Bay of Alaska, south of the base of the
Aleutian islands east over Kodiak Island. The full smoke extent cannot
be determined due to cloud cover in the general area. Another plume of
smoke is visible in the central area of the state, extending from the
Chukchi Bay SE near Yakutat, AK

Western Canada:
A plume of light-density remnant smoke is visible moving SE and
streaming down from the Alaskan border entering Yukon and the NW
Territories. Another plume to the south is visible gently swirling around
the British Columbia/Washington border. This plume is remnant smoke for
the fires that have been burning in the Pacific NW.

Central Canada/U.S:
An expansive area of light to medium-density smoke remains over much of
central Canada. Light smoke is visible from the NW Territories, Nunavut,
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. The smoke is also visible
streaming south into the U.S., affecting Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan,
Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri.

Eastern Canada:
An area of light-density smoke is visible drifting SW from Nunavut,
Quebec, and NewFoundland. This smoke is remnant from the wildfires from
Canada and Alaska from the last few weeks.

DUST:
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.