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NOAA Activities

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS BASED ON THE MOST CURRENT DATA PROVIDED TO NOAA. 

NOAA activities at the Arabian Gulf spill  
One key postwar activity was to define specific missions and goals as follows: 
     
    Observe the leading edge of the slick
    Provide trajectory of slick movement.
    Define the scale of the impact of "sheen" on landfalls.  

Results
    KFUPM now provides trajectory support to MEPA.

    Landfall of the slick on Bahrain was ground truthed and considered small
compared to past spills in the area (3m band at high tide with 3% coverage).

    USCG AirEye tracking of sheens that are known to cover the entire Gulf from
other sources was terminated. Identify and track uncontained oil sources
continuing or potentially impacting the Gulf.  USCG AirEye documented an ongoing
release of oil from Kuwaiti waters. The USCG AirEye was focused on those
locations where oil was entering or might enter the Gulf.

   DOD air resources were used to resolve the locations of oil sources to
locations in the Mina Al Ahmadi Refinery Complex.  On 2 April 91, the estimated
release rate was 1,500 bbls to 6,000 bbls/day.

   Damaged vessels in the Kuwaiti Port area were determined not to be
significantly contributing to the oil release.

   The accumulation of oil in pools from damaged oil field wells, less than 4nm
from the Gulf, was identified as another potential source of oil release.

   USCG AirEye was used in an attempt to identify the oil pooling on land
surfaces in the coastal zone.  As expected, the SLAR system, that was designed
to find oil on water, was not a successful tool for this task on land. 

  Limited ground observations in Kuwait found that a growing problem does exist
and actions are needed to document and map the spreading and accumulating oil
pools.  However, no immediate threat of release could be detected based on these
very limited observations.  (See separate report on this issue.) Current status
of the spill  Ongoing release from Mina Al- Ahmadie refinery complex was
estimated on 2 April at 3,000 bbls/day (range of 1,500 to 6,000 bbls/day) from
damaged diked areas, natural run- offs, and sewers from the facilities tank
farm, and perhaps extending into the south tank farm on the ridge to the west. 
The damaged pipe rack to Mina Al- Hamadi's South Pier and damaged to the pump
room and valves at the North Pier all contribute to these total estimates. 
Ongoing release from the damaged Sea Island and Al- Baker terminals continues in
the range of hundreds of barrels of oil per day.  Visual observations show that
the rate of leaking varies, possibly due to tidal influences.  Landed oil and
oil offshore from Tanajib south to Abu Ali.  ARAMCO's detailed aerial survey
conducted on 26 March estimated both the width and the thickness of landed oil
along detailed segments of the coastline. Recoverable floating oil was estimated
at two locations-Royal Commission Marina and Manifa Bay.  Open water sheen and
tarball volumes that were not considered recoverable was calculated outside of
these areas.   

Oil impact on shoreline
     993,000 bbls  Oil offshore in sheen and tarballs
     15,000 bbls  Oil non- recoverable conventionally
     1,008,000 bbls  Oil recoverable at two locations
     124,000 bbls Landed oil on Kuwait shoreline and offshore band of oil from
Kuwait City to Tanajib.  

The USCG SLAR system has shown that the band of oil observed on 2 April moving
along the Kuwaiti coastline consisting of ribbons of brown and black oil (10m to
100m wide) and 4% of the entire band mixed with streamers of tarballs and mousse
has continued to move onshore.  The oil was expected to impact the Kuwait
shoreline, especially during the high tides, starting 3 April 91.  Detailed
observations of the Kuwait coastline of the oil onshore or of the oil band
moving along the coast has not been possible to estimate a total oil volume.
Information on shoreline effects or shoreline impact areas.  Much of this
information was gathered with the USFW representative.  I have not been able to
detect any change in this general area of the spill.  The IMO representative
recently released their proposal to clean Karen Island before the turtle
breeding season.  The EPA representative has been active on this issue.