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Kuwait Fires
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286186029
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Kuwait Fires
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Stephen Hart Subject Files
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06. 24. 91 01:31 PM *NSF LEG&PUB. AFRS
PO2
National Science Foundation
Jeffrey Norris
For Release:
(202) 357-9498
IMMEDIATE
NSF PR 91-63
BLACK SMOKE FROM ABOUT 3 MILLION BARRELS PER DAY OF BURNING
KUWAIT OIL LIKELY TO FALL TO EARTH QUICKLY, SCIENTISTS SAY
Hundreds of Kuwaiti oil fires set by retreating Iraqi troops
during the last days of the Gulf war are emitting large amounts
of carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere, while
locally their black smoke is blocking out sunlight, lowering
temperatures, and engulfing the area in a mist of microscopic oil
droplets.
In the context of this bleak picture, there may be some
consolation in a preliminary analysis of the most extensive data
yet collected on the atmospheric behavior of the fires' giant
smoke plumes, which indicates that the smoke, bearing a Pandora's
box of pollutants and potentially climate-disrupting components,
probably will not travel outside the region.
Scientists who recently returned from the Gulf said at a
Washington news conference at the National Science Foundation
Monday (June 24) morning that the black smoke is very unlikely to
reach the stratosphere and linger in global skies, but instead is
probably being removed from the atmosphere within days of
emission. In addition, levels of toxic and acid-rain-causing
sulfur pollutants are lower than anticipated.
Office of Legislative and Public Affairs
06. 24. 91 01:31 PM *NSF LEG&PUB. AFRS
P03
-2-
"The researchers have conducted the most comprehensive
measurements to date of atmospheric impacts of the oil fires,"
according to Robert Corell, assistant director for geosciences at
NSF, the federal agency that coordinated the U.S. study. The
research also was funded by the Defense Nuclear Agency, the
Department of Energy, and by the National Geographic Society, a
major non-governmental source of support.
"We expect some regional effects on weather, but the
preliminary findings thus far do not suggest that there will be
major disruptions to global weather or climate," Corell said.
"Nonetheless, the U.S. government will place more studies in the
field to assess atmospheric impacts over time. These will be
coordinated with host countries and with the World Meteorological
Organization."
The results should provide fundamental insight into
processes important in studies of clouds, climate, global change
and air pollution, Corell added.
Peter Hobbs of the University of Washington and Lawrence
Radke of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), a
National Science Foundation-funded center, led the 27 scientists
who participated in the expedition, and presented the preliminary
scientific findings Monday. Hobbs directed research aboard the
University of Washington's Convair C-131A, and Radke oversaw
operations aboard the NSF-owned, NCAR-operated Lockheed Electra.
From May 16 through June 12, the heavily-instrumented planes
completed 35 flights between them, typically of six hours
duration or more. The aircraft flew through daytime skies made
black as night by smoke, extreme heat, dust, and fumes to gather
data from every part of the plumes before emerging coated with
oil. The airborne teams did not detect any smoke plumes above
22,000 feet.
"For smoke to cause a climatic catastrophe it has to remain
in the atmosphere for a long time," Radke said. "The only way it
can do that is for it to get high into the atmosphere by not
being removed by clouds. Theory suggested that if the smoke were
black enough it would absorb sufficient heat from the sun to
climb to the stratosphere.
"But convincing evidence from these experiments indicates
that no significant fraction of the smoke is going to reach the
stratosphere where it might escape removal from the atmosphere.
In addition, in contrast to what some had expected, the smoke
particles are attracted to water, and should be removed
efficiently as precipitation.'
06. 24. 91 01:31 PM *NSF LEG&PUB. AFRS
P 0 4
-3-
Hobbs, who, with Radke, studied the Mount Saint Helens
eruption in 1980, said that, "The smoke from a typical volcano
contains less sulfur dioxide, a major cause of acid rain, than is
being emitted by the Kuwait fires. However, volcanos can blast
material into the stratosphere. On a global basis, the recent
volcanic eruption in the Philippines is likely to leave a more
long-lived atmospheric signature than the oil fires."
The research teams also have obtained extensive data on the
oil fires' emissions of carbon dioxide and other hydrocarbons.
"Calculations based on our airborne measurements indicate
that about one million to two million tons of CO₂ per day are
presently being emitted into the atmosphere by Kuwait fires,"
Hobbs said. "This is about one percent of the worldwide
emissions of CO₂ from all sources.
"This indicates that the Kuwait oil fires are currently
consuming about three million barrels of oil per day, about five
percent of the world's daily oil consumption."
Hobbs said that the oil fires are relatively close together
and that their plumes tend to merge and broaden downwind. The
plume has darkened skies as far away as the United Arab Emirates,
about 500 kilometers from Kuwait, Hobbs said. If the plume was
superimposed on the East Coast and travelled south from New York
city, it would extend through Florida, he added.
The experiments demonstrated that models of smoke plume
transport were inaccurate, according to Radke. The data gathered
during the airborne expedition will assist in improving the
models, he said.
Alan Bandy, an atmospheric chemist from Drexel University
who studied sulfur chemistry from aboard the Electra, also spoke
at the press conference. Bandy found the highest concentrations
of sulfur dioxide within dark plumes close to the burning wells.
These concentrations were in excess of five parts-per-million,
Bandy said, but decreased to one to ten parts-per-billion 650
kilometers downwind, a level typical of a large urban area.
In addition, two highly poisonous gases which researchers
anticipated finding, hydrogen sulfide and carbonyl sulfide, were
not detected at levels significantly above background, according
to Bandy:
"These two gases, which were expected to be present,
are in fact not important. This is evidence that the gases
emitted by the fires are burning efficiently, unlike the oil."
06. 24. 91 01:31 PM *NSF LEG&PUB. AFRS
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Data for many other toxic compounds that may be present in
the smoke have not yet been analyzed, the researchers noted.
In the smoke near the fires, the scientists found very large
numbers of particles, in concentrations roughly one thousand
times greater than in clean Gulf region air. These particles are
"hydrophilic," -- water loving -- and serve as nuclei on which
cloud droplets can form.
Though the particles are likely to impact regional cloud
formation and precipitation, the data have not been examined
sufficiently to draw any firm conclusions, according to the
scientists.
Another impact on weather within a few hundred kilometers of
the fires may result from additional heat absorption due to the
darkening of desert sands from fallen smoke particles. However,
because there is much blowing dust and sand, it is unclear how
dark the ground will become or remain, the researchers said.
"After the fires are out, much of the southern half of
Kuwait may be coated black where it once was white," Radke said.
"Think of walking on the beach on a sunny day, and then walking
on the asphalt road that runs by the beach; your feet know the
difference."
-end-
(6/24/91)