DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1600Z March 15, 2021
SMOKE:
Southeast U.S./Atlantic…
The large area of what is likely mainly composed of leftover thin density
smoke from days of seasonal fire activity in the Southeastern U.S. was
still visible this morning stretching from the coastal areas of Georgia
and South Carolina to the east and southeast and well off the coast over
the Atlantic. Farther inland to the west and over the remainder of the
Southeast and Gulf Coast region, cloudiness interfered with detection
of any residual smoke which may be present.
Far southern Texas/Mexico and Western Gulf of Mexico/Pacific south
of Mexico...
A large region of primarily light density smoke was observed over most
of coastal
eastern Mexico and extending over parts of the western Gulf of Mexico and
the Bay of Campeche. The northern extent of this smoke possibly extends up
over far southern Texas though cloud cover limits the confidence of this
in satellite imagery. Another large area of mainly thin density smoke
was also seen over parts of southern Mexico and the adjacent coastal
waters of the Pacific Ocean. Both of these large areas of smoke were
due to the ongoing seasonal burning occurring in Mexico and the northern
part of Central America with some contribution from oil rig flaring in
the Bay of Campeche.
DUST:
South Central and Central U.S…
A swath of leftover thin density blowing dust from yesterday’s blowing
dust episode which originated especially in western Texas, New Mexico,
and northern Mexico, was seen this morning across the region stretching
from south central Texas to northeastern Texas and extending to the north
from there across eastern Oklahoma, western Arkansas, eastern Kansas,
and western Missouri. At that point, it became obscured by cloudiness
so it is not known how far north the dust extends.
Eastern Atlantic…
A rather substantial area of Saharan dust was seen this morning over
the eastern Atlantic and along the west coast of Africa.
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