Atmospheric and Meteorological Data Over the Kuwait Oil Fires Taken From

Aircraft

BRIEF

Airborne studies of the smoke and pollution from the Kuwait oil fires were carried out in 1991 at the end of the Persian Gulf War. 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. Five different organizations operated aircraft in the region to measure the chemical and physical nature of the smoke and its potential effect on the climate, weather, and air quality. The organizations were: 1) the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) operating an Electra aircraft; (2) The University of Washington operating a Convair C-131A aircraft; (3) Battelle/Depertment of Energy (DOE) operating a Gulfstream-I aircraft; 4) the British Meteorological Service operating a C-130 aircraft; and 5) the German Mininstry of Environmental Protection (MEP) operating a Piper Navajo Chieftian aircraft. Each aircraft had a different suite of instruments including Rosemount pressure devices, hygrometers (for measuring humidity), pyrgeometers (for measuring terrestrial radiation), pyranometers (for measuring solar radiation), photometers, radiometers, gas correlation filters, altimeters, cloud liquid water probes, nephelometers (for measuring the scattering function of particles), aethaelometers (for measuring soot concentrations), laser spectrometers, lidars, and dropsondes.

The NCAR Electra instrumentation included the ultrafine condensation nucleus (UCN) and cendensation nucleus (CN) counters, laser optical particle counters (LOPC-PMS), aethaelometers, and the differential mobility analyzer (DMA). The University of Washington C-131A instrumentation included the total-direct-diffuse multichannel radiometer (TDDR) and the multichannel flux radiometer (MFR). The British C-130 instrumentation included the passive cavity aerosol spectrometer probe (PCASP).

The aircraft measurements include meteorological data (temperature, presuure, humidity, winds, etc.), radiative fluxes, particulates, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), and chemical constituents of the smoke (including carbon monoxide (CO), formaldehyde, nitrous oxide (N2O), nitrogen oxide (NOx), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3), peroxide, etc).

The Kuwait oil fire aircraft data are organized by individual flights. Each flight represents a dataset consisting of parameters measured during that flight from the suite of instruments on each aircraft There were approximately 60 flights into the Persian Gulf region during the March-August 1991 period. The aircraft data can be ordered on-line at the Kuwait Data Archive (KuDA) via internet: telnet kuda.atd.ucar.edu (login: kuda; password: science). Access software is available to read each dataset and browse the metadata.

ATTRIBUTES

Entry_ID: KUDA_AIRCRAFT (MD Identifier: 4928)
 
Temporal Coverage:
     From: 1991-05-01                 TO: 1991-08-01 
 
Geographic Coverage:
     Southwest Extent: 20N,45E     Northeast Extent:  30N,60E
 
Source:
     AIRBORNE
     AIRCRAFT
 
Sensor:
     AETHAELOMETER
     ALTIMETERS
     CLOUD LIQUID WATER PROBE
     CN>condensation nucleus counter
     DMA>differential mobility analyzer
     DROPSONDE
     GAS CORRELATION FILTER
     HYGROMETER
     LASER SPECTROMETER
     LIDAR
     LOPC-PMS>laser optical particle counter
     MFR>multichannel flux radiometer
     NEPHELOMETER
     PCASP>passive-cavity aerosol spectrometer probe
     PHOTOMETER
     PRESSURE SENSORS>Rosemount Pressure Sensor
     PYRANOMETER
     PYRGEOMETER
     TDDR>total-direct-diffuse multichannel radiometer
     UCN>ultrafine condensation nucleus counter
 
Storage Media:
     IBM 3480 cartridge tapes
 
Discipline, Subdiscipline:
     EARTH SCIENCE                   > ATMOSPHERE
     EARTH SCIENCE                   > LAND
     EARTH SCIENCE                   > OCEAN
 
Location Keyword:
     ASIA>Middle East
     BOUNDARY LAYER
     TROPOSPHERE
 
Parameter Group, Parameter:
     ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION         > AEROSOLS
     ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION         > AIR QUALITY
     ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION         > ASH
     ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION         > CARBON DIOXIDE
     ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION         > CARBON MONOXIDE
     ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION         > CONTAMINANTS
     ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION         > HUMIDITY
     ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION         > NITROGEN OXIDES
     ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION         > NITROUS OXIDE
     ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION         > NON-METHANE HYDROCARBONS
     ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION         > OZONE
     ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION         > TRACE ELEMENTS
     ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION         > TRACE GASES
     ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS            > ALTITUDE
     ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS            > ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE
     ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS            > HEAT FLUX
     ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS            > HUMIDITY
     ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS            > PRESSURE
     ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS            > SOLAR RADIATION
     ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS            > VISIBILITY
     ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS            > WINDS
     EARTH RADIATIVE PROCESSES       > ALBEDO
     EARTH RADIATIVE PROCESSES       > HEAT FLUX
     EARTH RADIATIVE PROCESSES       > RADIANCE
     EARTH RADIATIVE PROCESSES       > TEMPERATURE
 
General Keywords:
     CCN
     CLOUD CONDENSATION NUCLEI
     CO
     CO2
     DNA
     DOD
     DOE
     EPA
     FORMALDEHYDE
     IDN_NODE GSFC/KUDA
     KUWAIT
     KUWAIT OIL FIRES
     LONG WAVE RADIATION
     MIDDLE EAST
     N2O
     NCAR
     NMHC
     NOAA
     NOX
     NSF
     OIL FIRES
     OPTICAL DEPTH
     PARTICLE CONCENTRATION
     PARTICLE DISTRIBUTION
     PEROXIDE
     PERSION GULF
     PLUMES
     SCATTERING COEFFICIENTS
     SHORT WAVE RADIATION
     SMOKE
     SO2
     SOOT CONCENTRATION
     SULFATES
     SULFUR DIOXIDE
 
Science Review Date: 1993-12-06
 
Revision Date: 1994-03-03

DATACENTER

Archive: 
   KUDA>Kuwait Data Archive (KUDA)
 
   Contact: HAGGERTY, JULIE 
            Kuwait Data Archive
            National Center for Atmospheric Research
            ATD/RAF
            P.O. Box 3000
            Boulder, CO  80307
 
            Electronic Mail: INTERNET> kudastaff@kuda.atd.ucar.edu
                             OMNET> ncar.raf
 
            Phone: 303-497-1029
                   303-497-1058
                   303-497-1092 FAX

PERSONNEL

Tech Contact: HAGGERTY, JULIE 
              Kuwait Data Archive
              National Center for Atmospheric Research
              ATD/RAF
              P.O. Box 3000
              Boulder, CO  80307
 
              Electronic Mail: INTERNET> kudastaff@kuda.atd.ucar.edu
                               OMNET> ncar.raf
 
              Phone: 303-497-1029
                     303-497-1058
                     303-497-1092 FAX
 
Entry Author: MAJOR, GENE R.
              Hughes STX
              7701 Greenbelt Road, Suite 400
              Greenbelt, MD 20770
              USA
 
              Electronic Mail: INTERNET> MAJOR@NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV
                               NSI/DECNET> NSSDCA::MAJOR
 
              Phone: (301) 441-4199
 
 
Information in this entry provided by KuDA

REFERENCE


Hobbs, Peter V. and L.F. Radke, 1992. 'Airbore Studies of the Smoke
from the Kuwait Oil Fires', Science, Vol. 256, pp. 987-991.

J.Geophys. Res., Vol. 97, No. D13, September 20, 1992: Special section
on Kuwait oil fire results. pp. 14,481-14,580.

Johnson, D.W., C.G.Kilsby, D.S. McKenna, R.W.Saunders, S.J.Jenkins,
F.B.Smith, and J.S.Foot, 1991. 'Airborne Observations of the Physical
and Chemical Characteristics of the Kuwait Oil Smoke Plume', Nature,
Vol. 353, pp. 617-621.

SUP_MENU

   1. Data Center: KUDA>Kuwait Data Archive (KUDA)