Saturday, March 12, 2023

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0050Z March 13, 2023

SMOKE/AEROSOL:
South Central and Southeastern U.S./Atlantic Ocean off the
Southeastern U.S. Coast/Gulf of Mexico/Central and Western Caribbean
Sea/Hispaniola/Jamaica/Cuba/Southern, Central, and Eastern Mexico/Central
America/Pacific Ocean Well South of Mexico and Central America…
A sprawling mass of what is believed to be a combination of smoke from
daily ongoing seasonal fire activity and a few wildfires in Mexico,
Central America, Cuba, and portions of the south central and southeastern
U.S. along with aerosols from industrial activity primarily from Mexico,
Central America, and Cuba was seen again this morning over the same
general area. The smoke/aerosol mix was noted over a portion of the south
central and southeastern U.S. and extending offshore of Florida over the
Atlantic and northern Bahamas. The smoke may extend further into the
U.S but heavy cloud cover over region precluded further analysis. The
smoke/aerosol mix also covered the Gulf of Mexico, the central and
western part of the Caribbean Sea, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, southern,
central, and eastern Mexico, Central America, and the Pacific Ocean well
south of the southern coast of Mexico and Central America. Within this
enormous mass of generally thin density smoke/aerosol mix were patches of
moderate to thick density smoke over central and eastern Cuba which were
associated with the seasonal fire activity and a few wildfires burning
there. More areas of moderate to thick density smoke were visible along
and just off the the Bay of Campeche, eastern and southeastern Mexico,
and off the southeastern coast of Mexico over the Pacific Ocean. The
smoke along and off the central U.S. Gulf Coast region was believed to
be from daily rounds of seasonal fire activity in the south central and
southeastern U.S. while the thicker smoke farther south over the Bay
of Campeche, eastern and southeastern Mexico, and the Pacific south of
Mexico was likely from ongoing daily seasonal fire activity primarily in
eastern and southern Mexico. In addition, certain smoke plumes of light
to moderate density were observed in parts of southeastern U.S before
cloud cover precluded further analysis.

Nguyen


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

 


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.