Oil Fires in Iraq

Dust has blown in over eastern and southern Iraq on April 9, 2003.

<font size="-2" face="helvetica, arial, sans">Close-up of Baghdad </font>

On Wednesday, April 2, 2003, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite captured this clear image of the Middle East and surrounding countries. The most striking feature of the image is the large blackish-brown cloud of smoke blanketing Baghdad in the center of the image (see close up of Baghdad). Several thermal anomalies have been detected by MODIS?some in Baghdad and others in southern Iraq?and are marked with red dots.

It is not unusual for MODIS to detect thermal signatures at oil wells or refineries. Underground, great pressure keeps various flammable gases mixed in with the liquid oil. When the oil is brought to the surface where air pressure isn't as great, those gases bubble up out of the oil are typically burned off, giving off a thermal signature and sometimes smoke. Other processes of oil production and refinement produce detectable thermal signatures. The hot spots detected in a roughly diagonal line from the bottom right of the image may be from oil production and refinement. The plumes of smoke coming from the locations in southern Iraq, however, are larger than what MODIS typically sees.

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The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The close up is a cut out of the full scene at MODIS’ maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters, which is provided by the MODIS Rapid Response System.

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Metadata

  • Sensor

    Terra/MODIS

  • Start Date

    2003-04-02

  • Event Start Date

    2003-03-19

  • NH Image ID

    9121

  • NH Event ID

    5635

  • NH Posting Date

    2003-04-02