DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z March 16, 2021
SMOKE:
Southern Texas/Eastern Mexico/Western Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche…
Similar to recent days, an aerosol which is likely composed at least in
part by remnant thin density smoke from ongoing seasonal fire activity in
Mexico was visible across portions of eastern Mexico, the Bay of Campeche,
the western Gulf of Mexico and likely extending up over southern Texas
though cloudiness in that area did interfere with the northern extent
of the smoke in satellite imagery. In addition, a swath of thin density
smoke was noted moving to the northwest from oil rig flaring in the Bay
of Campeche.
Southern Mexico/Pacific south of Mexico…
Remnant thin density smoke was visible across the southern portion of
Mexico and the nearby Pacific south of Mexico. This smoke was due to the
seasonal fire activity in southern Mexico and northern Central America.
DUST:
Eastern Atlantic…
Saharan dust continued to be seen over the eastern Atlantic and along
the western 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