Date: 201301
Local time of day: 0001-0600
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Flight conditions: VMC
Light: Daylight
Aircraft: EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Initial Climb
Airspace: Class B ZZZ
ATC / advisory: Tower ZZZ
Aircraft component: Turbine Engine
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: First Officer; Pilot Not Flying
Human factors: Communication Breakdown
Anomaly: Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
Detector: Person Air Traffic Control
When detected: In-flight
Result: Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Aircraft Equipment Problem Dissipated
Contributing factors: Aircraft; Weather
Primary problem: Ambiguous

Narrative: Aircraft was dark and cold. Captain was in the terminal getting paperwork while I prepared the aircraft. Captain arrived and we prepared the aircraft. Shut the door; ran checklists; and pushed back. Started both engines after push back; both starts normal. Was a very short taxi; had to quickly run taxi checklist and before takeoff checklist; again all normal. Engines had warmed up for 4 minutes or more and engines temperatures were in the green. Takeoff was normal. Around 350-450 FT MSL; Tower said to turn to heading 090 and [advised] that our left engine was producing smoke. No specification was given on how much smoke or color. Tower then asked for our intentions. Captain continued to fly. I checked all engine instruments and relayed to Tower that we had no abnormal indications on our engine instruments. I then advised Tower that we would continue the departure and to standby. Both Captain and I checked engine and all system instruments; no abnormal readings. We also could not detect any smell of smoke. Could not detect any abnormal flight characteristics. Tower then requested our intentions. We again said we would continue. Tower handed us off to Departure. Departure told us they had received the smoke notification from Tower. We checked all our instruments and systems again and could still not find any faults. Departure then notified us that Tower had called them and said the engine smoke had dissipated. Captain then used Commercial Radio to call Dispatch and we continued the departure. Dispatch connected the Captain to Maintenance Control. They told Captain that it was most likely the cold engines that had just warmed up combined with the cold temperatures of -2C; and that if all indications were normal that we could continue and that there wasn't a problem. So from there we continued with the flight and no problems were encountered for the flight; or the next flight that was using the same aircraft. The unexpected call from Tower caused slight confusion due to there being no correspondence with the instrument readings or the flight characteristics. There was a small breakdown of communication between the Captain and I when Tower asked for our intentions. I looked at the Captain but never asked him what he wanted to do; because we could both tell that nothing was wrong from all our indications outside of the Tower notification. I; under my own intuition; told Tower that we would continue the departure and the Captain never corrected me or told me to do otherwise. My default thought was that with the Captain not correcting me that he was in agreement with my advisement to ATC of continuing.  While in cruise; the Captain and I reviewed the situation and both agreed that we should have returned after Tower notified us of the smoke. We both agreed that it would have been better to have erred on the safe side and returned; as opposed to continuing because of our instrument indications and flight characteristics.




Synopsis: ERJ-145 flight crew notified by Local Controller after takeoff that the left engine was producing smoke. Flight crew confirmed no abnormal instrument indications or flight characteristics and continued the departure. Flight crew was notified via Departure Control that the smoke had dissipated. Maintenance advised the flight crew that the 'smoke' was likely due to a combination of cold engines and cold air temperature.