Satellite Imagery Advisory (fwd)

[Coral Health and Monitoring Program]

Forwarded message.  This might be of use in local studies of coral reefs
threatened by other environmental events:

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3/12/98
CONTACT:	Patricia Viets, NOAA
		(301) 457-5005

MEDIA ADVISORY


NOAA PLACES IMAGERY OF SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL EVENTS ON LINE

	The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has placed
satellite imagery of significant environmental events from around the
world on line. The imagery is suitable for illustrating news and feature
stories.  Captions and explanations are included. The events that are
monitored regularly are:  fires, volcanoes, tropical storms, floods, oil
spills, and snow and ice.

	The following report is an example of the imagery that is
available each day:

Significant events identified by Satellite Analysis Branch meteorologists
and reviewed by the Operational Significant Event Imagery team on
Thursday, March 12, 1998, are as follows:

Fires - The smoky conditions in Borneo appear to be improving in this GMS
image.  The smoke, which was very dense this time yesterday, is much
lighter now.  A smoky haze is still visible extending from eastern Borneo
southeastward into the Java Sea and more can be seen moving northeast from
the same position.

The second image in this series is significant because of what it doesn't
show.  AVHRR Channel 3, which generally detects hot spots on the surface
quite well, seems to indicate the absence of any concentrated heat sources
in eastern Borneo.  There are a few scattered spots in the region and a
few more somewhat concentrated spots in Malaysia, but nothing compared to
the past weeks.  Multichannel color and single channel imagery was
processed and posted to:

http://duc9.wwb.noaa.gov/SPECIAL/FIRES/FSMind071.gif

http://duc9.wwb.noaa.gov/SPECIAL/FIRES/FSHind071.gif

Fires in Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil show up well as hot spots in this
AVHRR Channel 3 image.  There is a concentrated area of fires in western
Venezuela and scattered ones throughout northeast Columbia.  Single
channel imagery was processed and posted to:

http://duc9.wwb.noaa.gov/SPECIAL/FIRES/FHSbrz071.gif

Something of a mystery in these AVHRR and TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping
Spectrometer) images.  A large cloud can be seen extending from Southeast
Asia well into the South China Sea. After some analysis we suggest that it
is probably smoke from fires in Vietnam and Laos.  The phenomenon shows up
extremely well on the TOMS imagery which measures the concentration of
particles in the air.  Corresponding hot spots were seen in Laos and
Vietnam indicating fires on the surface.  This feature has been persisting
for a few days.  Multichannel color imagery was processed and posted to:

http://duc9.wwb.noaa.gov/SPECIAL/FIRES/FSMseasia071.gif

Snow and Ice - California braces for yet another powerful storm in this
GOES-9 image.  The spiral of low pressure is off the Oregon coast but
heavy clouds are already moving in to California.  More rain is certainly
not welcome as the ground is still saturated from past storms.
Multichannel color imagery was processed and posted to:

http:/duc9.wwb.noaa.gov/SPECIAL/SNOW/STMwest071.gif

Editors:  If you wish to receive a daily summary of these events by
e-mail, please notify: pviets at nesdis.noaa.gov

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