DMSP and NOAA Satellite Imagary of the Kuwait Oil Fires

Satellite data were taken of the Kuwait oil fires during and after the
Persian Gulf War in 1991. Over 600 oil wells, storage tanks, and
refineries were ignited by the Iraqi army as they fled Kuwait in
February 1991. The fires produced large smoke plumes which had a
significant environmental effect on the Persian Gulf region. Polar
orbiting satellites, operated by the DoD Defense Meteorological
Satellite Program (DMSP) and the NOAA Polar Orbiting Environmental
Satallite (POES) series, obtained extensive imagery and data of the
Persian Gulf region. Approximately 1000 images are available at the
Kuwait Data Archive. Satellite imagery were obtained using the
Operational Linescan System (OLS) and the Special Sensor
Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) instrument on the DMSP F8, DMSP F9, and DMSP
F10 spacecraft. Satellite imagery were obtained from the Advanced
Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument on the NOAA-9, -10,
-11, and -12 spacecraft. Data from the AVHRR instrument consists of
Local Area Coverage (LAC) at 1-km resolution and Global Area Coverage
(GAC) at 4 km resolution. Digital data is also available from OLS and
SSM/I on the DMSP series and from the AVHRR and TIROS Operational
Vertical Sounder (TOVS) on the NOAA POES series. Visible data are
represented by albedo. Infrared and microwave data are represented as
brightness temperatures.

Satellite imagery are available on-line from the Kuwait Data Archive
for users running X-windows. This tool is intended to serve as a
visual catalog so that users can browse images before ordering.
Off-line satellite imagery can be transferred to other media or sent
via ftp. The KuDA is accessed via internet: telnet kuda.atd.ucar.edu
(login: kuda; password: science).

or see the KuDA Home Page at:

'http://www.atd.ucar.edu/kuwait/kuda_title.html'