DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0100Z December 4, 2022
SMOKE: Southern Plains… A few agricultural burns across from Oklahoma into Missouri were seen emitting light smoke. The smoke from these burns was moving south-southeastward. SMOKE/DUST… West coast of Mexico/Eastern Pacific Ocean… A persistent blanket of aerosol continues to be analyzed along the western coastline of Mexico westward out across the Pacific Ocean. Today, the aerosol layer extends further north across the Gulf of California and Baja California. The likely sources for this layer of aerosol include the recent uptick in seasonal burning across central Mexico; the lofting of dust from high deserts across central Mexico and, perhaps, the southwestern CONUS; and pollution from urban and industrial sources throughout southern and central Mexico. The aerosol appears to be a little thinner than the layer observed yesterday. BLOWING DUST… Northern Gulf of Mexico… Remnant dust from yesterday’s blowing dust event was seen across the northern Gulf of Mexico south of Louisiana and eastern Texas. The remnant dust was drifting south. UNKNOWN AEROSOL: Tropical Pacific Ocean… An area along approximately 17.5N from about 125W to 145W appears as a fairly bright white aerosol layer. This layer does not appear on IR imagery, which rules out that this is a cloud of vapor. The best guess for the origin of this layer of unknown aerosol is the recent and ongoing eruption of Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii. This would likely be remnant, as initial emissions did move west-northwestward with current flow having taken a dive southward. Hosley 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 map: https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg Smoke data: https://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/FIRE/web/HMS/Smoke_Polygons Fire data: https://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/pub/FIRE/web/HMS/Fire_Points ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov