ABSTRACT
The western coastal fringe of the Arabian/Persian Gulf is an extremely arid environment with few natural resources (Figure 9.1). Average annual precipitation is less than 100 mm, with the exception of the north-eastern part of Kuwait and parts of the Jebel Akhdar mountains of the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Nowhere, however, is agriculture possible without irrigation (Al-Feel, 1985; Dutton, 1985). When rainfall occurs it is usually associated with frontal systems of eastward-moving depressions. Rainfall can locally be intense and so flash flooding does occur. Along the Gulf coast, temperatures are high throughout the year. In July mean daily temperatures are usually in excess of 30°C and extremes of over 40°C are possible away from the immediate coastal fringe. During the winter months mean temperatures fall to between 13° and 18°C, though outbursts of cold air from Siberia can cause the temperature to fall rapidly for short periods in the northern parts of the Gulf. In coastal locations humidities are always high, making life unpleasant for the inhabitants (Babikir, 1986). In Bahrain, for example, it is rare for average relative humidities to drop below 60 per cent. Onshore humidities are high during the winter months, but are ameliorated during the summer by intensely hot and dry air moving out from the centre of the Arabian Peninsula. The Gulf: major physical and economic features https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315832210/e438b80f-55d6-43b7-8c14-867ec39489e7/content/fig9_1_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
