Smoke Plumes from Kuwaiti Oil Fires as Atmospheric Experiment of Opportunity: AnEarly Look

摘要

This document sets in context the smoke plume phenomenology associated with thelarge number of oil fires lit by the Iraqi military in Kuwait in February 1991, and which are probably the worst man-made air pollution event in human history. Based on the simple phenomenology given here, and considered an unfortunate 'experiment of opportunity', the question is raised of what actions should be taken, and what one can hope to learn from these events. From the standpoint of SDIO, most of the basic physical elements of the fire and smoke phenomenology appear to be understood although there are some new effects and the initial quantitative predictions of the experts appear to differ significantly from the results of the detailed measurements. Many observations have been made. They require analysis followed by review and publication before being incorporated in the DoD integrated phenomenology models. This document represents an early look at the smoke plumes before most of the observations have been analyzed, reviewed, and published; its main function is to raise questions that should be addressed more carefully later.