a major oil spill, there is a modicum of comfort in the knowledge that Dr.

Kathryn Burns is among us.

As one of the world's leading scientific experts on oil spills and their effect on the environment, Dr. Burns has been working on a series of research studies as Visiting Scientist at the Bermuda Biological Station since 1986. In fact, she says, her whole career seems to have been devoted to oil spills, although as an oceanographer, her primary interest is in ocean flux studies.

"Bermuda is the perfect place for an oceanographer and every year I run a marine pollution course here which draws people from all over the world,'' she told Living .

But, all too often, the drama of an oil spill interrupts her research and teaching pursuits, for Dr. Burns, who has also held senior research posts in Australia and Monaco, is one of the first to be called when disaster strikes.

She was, for instance, a consultant to the State of Alaska on the Valdez Spill Assessment in 1989. And last year, because of her previous field work in the Gulf area during the 1980's, UNESCO called upon her expertise when, in the aftermath of the Gulf War, scientists from around the world gathered in those troubled waters to study the effects of the worst spill in history.

She became the youngest member of the international team who worked on the motor research vessel, Mount Mitchell , moored just off the coast of Saudi Arabia at Jubail.

Now, after another 22-day spell in the Gulf during March and April, Dr. Burns is back in Bermuda, with the cautiously optimistic conclusion that the long-term damage is not as bad as had originally been feared.

"There had been some very dramatic photographs in the world press, but when we got there in March, the sea looked absolutely clear and the only place we could visibly see oil was on the beach,'' says Dr. Burns. "And the wild life seemed to have made a surprisingly good recovery. We saw birds, turtles, dolphins, fish and crabs.'' She points out that every oil spill has a different effect on the environment, depending on the eco-system.

"In the Gulf, the inter-tidal zone is very flat and wide, so the oil covered an enormous amount of flat, wide sand in Saudi Arabia. The beaches were heavily contaminated, in some places as much as 20 centimetres deep, with huge areas that looked like road tar. But the Saudis never use the beaches anyway! And even in this area, where some of the tar-mat is breaking, there are signs of life in the pools underneath, with some re-colonisation recurring.'' She says that where the tide came in under the tar-mat it did ooze into the shallow coastal waters. But the Gulf area, which slumbers under intense sun for most of the year, has a very fast degradation system and the indications are that the grass beds appear to be generally healthy.

While some of the oil was spilled from three tankers during the hostilities, the real calamity occurred when Saddam's forces opened Kuwait's oil spigots as an act of defiant sabotage during the last days of the war and released an estimated six million barrels of oil into the delicate eco-system that was home to a large variety of wild life.

"Bearing in mind the vast amount spilled, everyone was very surprised and very pleased that things weren't a lot worse,'' says Dr. Burns.

Dr. Burns is also currently conducting a five-year study on the 1986 Bahia las Minas oil spill in Panama, under subcontract from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

"Panama is still a mess -- the oil killed off the mangrove swamps, the trees fell into the water and the contamination of the sediment has had a disastrous effect on the nursery habitats there.'' Dr. Burns spent a total of 22 days on Mount Mitchell, which had a laboratory on board where preliminary evaluations could be made on the spot.

"One of the most interesting things was that it brought together regional scientists that would normally never meet -- we even had Iranian scientists on board, as well as from most of the Arab states. Many of these people regarded the Mount Mitchell project as a training programme, where they could learn from foreigners.'' Another first was the fact that the American space shuttle was in orbit during their cruise.

"They had taken cameras on board to do high-resolution photography so that they could collaborate directly with the scientists. The ship was talking with Kathy Sullivan, who is also an oceanographer,'' says Dr. Burns.

And in spite of the strained political relations that still prevail between the US and some of the Arab states, it has been agreed that data from the cruise will be shared among all of the countries who participated.

She says that during the entire trip, there was only one tense moment: "Some of the Saudis studying algae mats somehow missed the `Land Mines' sign and found themselves stuck in the middle of a mine-field. It took them quite a while to back out, very carefully -- and very timidly!'' DEVASTATION -- Oil wells burn on the horizon and flaming oil covers the beach and shoreline in this photo taken in Kuwait in March, last year, just after the Gulf War ended. -- Reuter.

DR. KATHRYN BURNS -- Who you gonna' call?