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