NOAA SATELLITE CAPTURES ‘HOTS SPOTS’ NEAR BAGHDAD

March 28, 2003 — A NOAA polar-orbiting satellite shows mostly clear skies over most of Iraq. Another image taken by the NOAA satellite shows ‘hot spots’ in southern Iraq, Kuwait, Iran and the Persian Gulf. Some of the ‘hot spots’ in southern Iraq are believed to be burning oil fields. A larger-than-normal ‘hot spot’ area visible near the capital of Baghdad is believed to be from fires in the region. The other ‘hot spot’ areas in Kuwait, Iran and the Persian Gulf are the result of operations of waste gas flaring from oil wells. (Click NOAA image for larger view of clear skies over most of Iraq taken March 28, 2003, at 5:12 a.m. EST. Click here for image without annotations. Please credit “NOAA.)

The clear skies image was produced from data taken by the NOAA-16 satellite on March 28, 2003, at 5:12 a.m. EST (1:12 p.m. Iraq local time). The image measures 1280 x 1101 pixels with NOAA annotations.

The ‘hot spots’ image was taken on March 27, 2003, at 6:54 p.m. EST (2:54 a.m. Iraq local time). It measures 1280 x 1137 with NOAA annotations. NOAA-16 is a polar-orbiting NOAA satellite, which flies at about 520 miles above the Earth in an almost north-south orbit. (Click NOAA image for larger view of 'hot spots' from fires near Baghdad, taken March 27, 2003, at 6:54 p.m. EST. Click here for image without annotations. Please credit “NOAA.)

These images were processed by the NOAA Operational Significant Event Imagery, part of NOAA Satellites and Information.

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Relevant Web Sites
NOAA Operational Significant Event Imagery

NOAA Polar-Orbiting Satellites

All About NOAA Satellites

Climatology for Southwest Asia, including Afghanistan and Iraq

Media Contact:
Greg Hernandez, NOAA, (202) 482-3091