DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0030Z March 24, 2012
Gulf of Mexico: A large area of remnant smoke and aerosols mainly from numerous oil/gas rigs in the southern Gulf of Mexico and Bay of Campeche with likely mixed agricultural fire output from the Yucatan peninsula is visible covering all of the Western Gulf of Mexico (except far NW along the central and eastern TX coastline) east of 89W. Most of the area is no longer influenced by the deep cyclone over the US and has continued to track eastward beginning to affect far southern TX and the coastal Mexican states. A bit of the smoke/smog area is still being pulled northeast and eastward across the Mississippi River Delta toward Mobile Bay into the large thunderstorm complex offshore. -Gallina THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS 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.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/hms.html GIS: http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm KML: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov