Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1979

Abstract

This is a preliminary report on a joint research projcct by Boston University and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research that commenced in April 1992. The project aim is to establish the extent and nature of environmental damage to the desert surface and coastal zone of Kuwait due to the Gulf War and its aftermath. Change detection image enhancement techniques were employed to enhance environmental change by comparison of Landsat Thematic Mapper images obtained before the wars and after the cessation of the oil well fires. Higher reso- lution SPOT images were alsa utilized to evaluate the nature of the environmental damage to specific areas. The most prominent changes were due to: (1) the deposition of a layer, up to 10 cm in thickness, of oil and course-grained soot on the desert surface in the lee of the wind as a result of "oil rain" from the plume that cminated from the oil well fires; (2) the formation of hundreds of oil lakes, which cover more than 30 square kilometers of the desert surfacc, from oil seepage at the damaged oil well heads; (3) the mobilization of sand and dust due to the disturbance of the natural "desert pavement" that protects the fine-grained soil beneath, which resulted in the forma- tion of numerous sand streaks and dunes; and (4) the pollution of segments of the coastal zone by the deposition of oil from several oil spills. Interpretations of satellite image data are checked in the field to confirm the obser- vations, and to assess the nature jof thc darnage. Final results will be utilized in establishing the needs for remedial action to counteract the harmful effects of the various types of damage to the evironment of Kuwait.

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