DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1700Z April 12, 2023
SMOKE: Central and Eastern CONUS… A large area of remnant smoke comprised of emissions from mainly agricultural burns across the central and southeastern CONUS over the past few days was seen blanketing a region that includes a vast majority of the eastern CONUS, central and eastern Ontario, far southwestern Quebec, and portions of the western North Atlantic. The smoke is mainly light, but some areas of slightly higher density were seen across western South Carolina, northern Georgia, the Mid-Mississippi Valley, the Central Plains, and the Upper Midwest, where some of the remnant smoke was thickest. There was also one fire in northeastern Oklahoma that did persist overnight and was observed emitting light to perhaps some moderate density smoke. SMOKE/AEROSOL: Southwestern and southern Texas/Gulf of Mexico/Cuba/Caribbean Sea/Northwestern Central America/Eastern Half of Mexico/Pacific Ocean South of the Southern Coast of Mexico and Central America… The large smoke/aerosol layer that has been persistent extends from the southern CONUS and Gulf of Mexico to the tropical Pacific and the Caribbean. Much of this layer is of light density, but is more of a moderate to perhaps thick density across the Bay of Campeche, the surrounding coast of Mexico, the Isthmus and Gulf of Tehuantepec, the southern half of the Pacific coast of Mexico, the Guatemalan coast, and the Tropical Pacific west-southwest of the Mexican and Guatemalan Coasts. The parent sources of this layer are seasonal burning across Hispaniola, Cuba, the Yucatan, Central America, and the eastern coastal plain of Mexico...and industrial sources across southern Mexico. BLOWING DUST/VOLCANIC ASH/UNKNOWN AEROSOL… Northern Pacific/Gulf of Alaska/Alaska… A stripe of aerosol that extends from south of the Aleutians across the Gulf of Alaska is almost certainly and completely comprised of dust from a large dust storm that has its origins in the Gobi Desert that has now traversed Mongolia, Manchuria, the Sea of Japan, northern Japan, the southern portions of the Sea of Okhotsk, and the far northern Pacific. However, there is also a chance that a small portion of this aerosol is volcanic ash from the eruption of Sheveluch volcano in central Kamchatka Peninsula as well. The amount of ash is likely very low over this area currently, as the ash cloud has become incorporated into a low pressure system over the Bering Sea. This possibility is still mentioned though since a cloud of aerosol that likely IS of volcanic origin was observed extending east-southeastward from the Alaskan Mainland across Kodiak Island and into the Gulf of Alaska, where it meets the aforementioned dust/possible ash ribbon. 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