October 1991, Page 71

Mideast Ecology Notes

By Dennis J. Wamsted

Evaluating the Impact of Kuwaiti Oil Fires

The U.S. Department of Energy has joined the international effort to evaluate the environmental impact of the oil well fires in Kuwait. As part of its effort, DOE sent a team of atmospheric scientists and a research aircraft to the Gulf in late July. After establishing a base camp on the island of Bahrain, the team spent much of August collecting data, concentrating particularly on downwind air sampling. The sampling effort extended roughly 620 miles from Kuwait.

However, collecting the samples is only part of the research effort. The researchers are now in the process of applying the data to large-scale atmospheric chemistry models to better understand the fires' environmental impact. One model will examine the chemical transformation of the smoke plume as it moves downwind, paying particular attention to the rate at which the plume loses its toxic properties. Results from this model will enable the researchers to calculate the potential for toxic deposits on agricultural regions in Europe and elsewhere.

The data is also being used to determine the plume's effect on regional climate. Specifically, the DOE team is examining whether the smoke particles have the potential to drift up into the stratosphere, where they may block radiation from the sun. Additional studies are planned to explore possible disturbances in the atmosphere's solar radiation balance and any resulting impact on regional or global temperatures.

Members of the research team included scientists, engineers and pilots from Battelle Memorial Institute's Pacific Northwest Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory. Officials from the Saudi Arabian environmental protection agency also participated in the research effort.

According to estimates from the UN World Meteorological Organization, more than 5 million barrels of oil and 70 million cubic meters of gas were burning every day in the Gulf during the summer. Emissions from these fires are estimated at 3,000 tons of nitrogen oxide a day, 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide daily and 40,000 tons of sulfur dioxide. The calculated sulfur dioxide emissions, the principal component of acid rain, are more than the total daily emissions from France, Germany and Great Britain combined.

Dennis J. Wamsted is the editor of Environmental Week, a Washington, DC-based business newsletter.