In response to the 10th anniversary of
Operation Desert Storm, NOAA‘s
National Climatic Data Center
in Asheville, N.C., has produced eight newly enhanced satellite
images of the Persian Gulf region.
The images, from NOAA-11, a polar-orbiting
operational environmental satellite, show how the region looked
from space when retreating Iraqi soldiers torched over 100 Kuwaiti
oil wells. The images show dramatic scenes of billowing black
smoke stretching hundreds of miles, as well as multiple heat
sources of these plumes. Several square miles of blazing oil
well fires are depicted as bright red spots, indicating intense
heat. The images can be viewed by clicking on the NCDC Spotlight
at http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov.
