![\"Meteosat-10](\"http:\/\/pyrocb.ssec.wisc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/150717_meteosat10_visible_Atlantic_smoke_plume_anim.gif\")
<\/a>Meteosat-10 0.8 \u00b5m visible channel images [click to play animation]<\/p><\/div>EUMETSAT<\/strong><\/a> Meteosat-10 High Resolution Visible (0.8 \u00b5m) images (above; click to play animation; also available as an MP4 movie file<\/a>)<\/strong><\/em> revealed the hazy signature of what appeared to be a ribbon of smoke aloft being transported eastward across the North Atlantic Ocean by the circulation of a large area of low pressure (surface<\/a><\/strong> | 500 hPa<\/a><\/strong>) on 17 July 2015. Early in the day, the smoke feature stretched from the east coast of Greenland to the central Atlantic Ocean; by the end of the day, the leading edge of the smoke had moved over the British Isles and was headed toward Scandinavia.<\/p>\n A portion of the smoke plume could be seen on Aqua MODIS and Suomi NPP VIIRS true-color Red\/Green\/Blue (RGB) images (below)<\/strong><\/em> as it was approaching the southern portion of Great Britain.<\/p>\n Aqua MODIS and Suomi NPP VIIRS true-color images [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>On the following morning, Meteosat-10 visible images (below; click to play animation)<\/strong><\/em> showed that the leading edge of the smoke ribbon was moving over southern Norway.<\/p>\n Meteosat-10 0.8 \u00b5m visible channel images [click to play animation]<\/p><\/div>The transport pathway of this smoke feature was rather interesting, as we shall explore with the following sets of images.<\/p>\n Suomi NPP VIIIRS 3.74 \u00b5m shortwave IR and 0.64 \u00b5m visible images on 06 July [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>The 2015 wildfire season in Alaska had been very active — as of 17 July, it was rated as the 4th worst in terms of total acreage burned. In early July, numerous wildfires burning across the interior of Alaska were producing a large amount of smoke, as can be seen in a comparison of of Suomi NPP VIIRS 3.74 \u00b5m shortwave IR and 0.64 \u00b5m visible channel images at 2131 and 2312 UTC on 06 July (above)<\/strong><\/em>. The thermal signature of the wildfire “hot spots” showed up as yellow to red to black pixels on the 2 shortwave IR images, while the widespread smoke plumes from the fires are evident on the 2 visible images; even in the relatively short 101 minutes separating the two sets of VIIRS images, notable changes in fire activity could be seen.<\/p>\n Looking a bit farther to the north and west, a sequence of VIIRS 0.64 \u00b5m visible images centered over Cape Lisburne (station identifier PALU)<\/em> in northwestern Alaska covering a 2-day period from 06 to 08 July (below)<\/strong><\/em> showed the initial transport of large amounts of smoke from the interior of Alaska northwestward over the Chukchi Sea between Alaska and Russia.<\/p>\n Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.64 \u00b5m visible channel images covering the 06-08 July period [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>Daily composites of Suomi NPP OMPS<\/strong><\/a> Aerosol Index covering the period of 04-17 July (below; courtesy of Colin Seftor; see his OMPS Blog post<\/a>)<\/strong><\/em> showed the strong signal of this dense Alaskan smoke (denoted by the red arrows)<\/em> as it moved from east to west over the far southern Arctic Ocean and along the far northern coast of Russia from 06-10 July. The Aerosol Index signal seemed to stall north of Scandinavia on 12-13 July, but then a small portion began to move toward Iceland and Greenland on 13-15 July around the periphery of a large upper-level low (500 hPa analyses<\/strong><\/a>). Finally, some of this smoke was then transported eastward across the Atlantic Ocean around the southern periphery of this upper-level low on 17 July, as was seen on the Meteosat-10 visible images at the beginning of this blog post.<\/p>\n Suomi NPP OMPS Aerosol Index images, covering the period 04-17 July [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>CALIOP lidar data from the CALIPSO satellite (below)<\/strong><\/em> showed the vertical distribution of the Alaskan smoke over and off the coast of northern Norway on 11 July<\/strong><\/a>. The signal of the smoke was located in the center portion of the images; while there appeared to be some smoke at various altitudes within the middle to upper troposphere, a significant amount of smoke was seen in the lower stratosphere in the 10-12 km altitude range.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>