Earth from Space - Image Description

STS046-74-94 Kuwait City, Kuwait August 1992
This photograph provides evidence that the reclamation process created by the naturally occurring desert winds is well under way just 1.5 years after Saddam Hussein ordered all oil wells in Kuwait to be set on fire. The large dark spots in the photograph are standing pools of oil. Kuwait City is clearly visible on the south side of Kuwait Bay. The sediment plume surrounding Bubiyan and Faylaka Islands is mostly coming from the joint Euphrates and Tigris River Delta, the main body of which is outside the photo. (Refer to STS-037-152-091 for a photograph of the same area taken in April 1991, two months after the oil wells were ignited.)

This view of the northern Persian Gulf shows Kuwait City and the Tigris and Euphrates River Deltas (29.5N, 48.5E). The oil laden sands and oil lakes of the Kuwait Oil Fields to the north and south of the city are clearly visible as dark patches surrounded by oil free desert sands. Comparison with earlier photos indicate that the oil laden sands are slowly being covered with clean sand carried by strong NW winds called Shmals.

This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Earth Science & Remote Sensing Unit, ARES Division, Exploration Integration Science Directorate.