Sunday, January 2, 2022

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z January 2, 2022

SMOKE:
Southern Florida…
More agricultural fire activity on the western, southern, and eastern
periphery of Lake Okeechobee in southern Florida resulted in thin to
very localized moderate density smoke plumes which quickly thinned out
as they spread to the north.

Hispaniola/Cuba/Caribbean…
A couple of wildfire complexes in the southwestern part of the Dominican
Republic and southeastern Haiti were emitting moderately dense to locally
thick smoke which spread to the west while fanning out and thinning
out over a portion of the Caribbean to the north of Jamaica and across
western Cuba.

SMOKE/AEROSOL:
Northwestern Cuba/Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche/Pacific Ocean off
southern Mexico and Guatemala coastlines...Aerosol plumes linked to gas
flaring and other urban/industrial activities were seen originating from
northwestern Cuba and moving to the north over the eastern Gulf of Mexico
possibly spreading inland over west central Florida. Relatively large
patches of primarily thin density aerosol associated with gas flaring
and other urban/industrial activities, with additional contribution
from scattered regional fire activity were seen this morning across
portions of southern Mexico and off the coast of southern Mexico
and northwestern Central America extending well out over the tropical
eastern Pacific. Farther to the north, more aerosol composed of smoke and
other atmospheric pollutants was seen across eastern Mexico, the Bay of
Campeche, and the western and central Gulf of Mexico with the aerosol
likely extending over the northern Gulf of Mexico and inland over the
central Gulf coast region though cloud cover there limited information
on the extent of the aerosol in satellite imagery.

JS


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/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg
GIS:    ftp://satpsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/FIRE/HMS/GIS/
KML:    http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/fire.kml (fire)
        http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/smoke.kml (smoke)

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.