In response to the 10th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., has produced eight newly enhanced satellite images of the Persian Gulf region.

The images, from NOAA-11, a polar-orbiting operational environmental satellite, show how the region looked from space when retreating Iraqi soldiers torched over 100 Kuwaiti oil wells. The images show dramatic scenes of billowing black smoke stretching hundreds of miles, as well as multiple heat sources of these plumes. Several square miles of blazing oil well fires are depicted as bright red spots, indicating intense heat. The images can be viewed by clicking on the NCDC Spotlight at http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov.