NOAA-NESDIS
Regional And Mesoscale Meteorology Team
Satellite Discussion
Friday April 17, 1998
Today's feature of the day looks at the recent fires burning in Central American Countries. We know that this is the time of year when burning for agricultural purposes is common and widespread. We do not know how many of the fires are accidental and out of control. Figures 1 and 2 show GOES-8 visible imagery and the reflectivity product for 1845 UTC on April 15, 1998.

Figure 1
click to enlarge
Figure 2
click to enlarge
Some of the more apparent regions of smoke have been identified in the visible imagery- in Bahia de Campeche extending north into the Gulf of Mexico, in the region south of El Salvador, and in areas of Mexico and Guatemala. An area of sun glint has also been pointed out. The hot fires show up in the reflectivity as bright white spots. More information about fire detection can be found in other RAMM discussions at: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/picoday/fire.html

Check out the both the Visible and Reflectivity image loops for the day.

Bernadette Connell


We welcome your comments and discussion at ramsdis@comet.ucar.edu

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