Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Sea surface temperature trends in Kuwait Bay, Arabian Gulf

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Natural Hazards Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The waters of Kuwait Bay, northern Arabian Gulf, are well mixed by macrotidal, semi-diurnal tides. Sea surface temperature (SST) is thus a good proxy of water mass temperature in the bay. The factors governing SST have been conveniently sub-divided into global, regional and local drivers. This paper provides a study on long-term drivers of temperature change in the northern Arabian Gulf: that is, factors that influence decadal changes. AVHRR (NOAA) satellite data of Kuwait Bay, collected between 1985 and 2002, show that SST has steadily increased at a rate of 0.6 (±0.3)°C/decade. This trend was three times greater than the concurrent global average. The rate of change was greatest in May and June and least during winter months. The trends defined by satellite data were substantiated by routine in situ monthly measurements of SST made in the region and were also similar to air temperature trends recorded at Kuwait airport. The monthly measurements of SST also showed a peak in summer temperature coincident with an El Niño event in 1998. A relatively low summertime peak during 1991 in the aftermath of Iraqi invasion of Kuwait is considered to be the result of atmospheric dimming brought about by dense smoke that persisted in the region for most of that year.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Al-Ghadban A, El-Sammak A (2005) Sources, distribution and composition of the suspended sediments, Kuwait Bay, Northern Arabian Gulf. J Arid Environ 60:647–661. doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2004.07.017

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Rashidi T, Amos C, El-Gamily H (2007) Utilization of remotely sensed data to detect anthropogenic impacts on sea surface temperature of Kuwait Bay, Kuwait. In: OCEANS 2007-Europe, pp 1–5. Doi: 10.1109/OCEANSE.2007.4302207

  • Al-Yamani F, James B, Essa R, Al-Husaini M, Al-Ghadan A (2004) Oceanographic atlas of Kuwait’s waters. KISR publication, Kuwait, pp 81–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderlini C, Jacob C, Lee W (1982) Atlas of physical and chemical oceanographic characteristics of Kuwait Bay, Final report of the oceanographic data project. Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Report No. KISR704, pp 15–66

  • Giannini A, Kushnir Y, Cane M (2001) Seasonality in the impact of ENS0 and the North Atlantic High on Caribbean rainfall. Phys Chem Earth 26(2):143–147. doi:10.1016/S1464-1909(00)00231-8

    Google Scholar 

  • GISS (2007) Global temperature trends: 2005 summation. In: GISS surface temperature analysis. Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Available via DIALOG. http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2005/. Accessed 14 Jan 2008

  • Glibert P, Landsberg J, Evans J, Al-Sarawai M, Fraj M, Al-Jarallah M, Haywood A, Ibrahem S, Klesius P, Powell C, Shoemaker C (2002) A fish kill of massive proportion in Kuwait Bay, Arabian Gulf, 2001: the roles bacterial disease, harmful algae, and eutrophication. Harmful Algae 1:215–231. doi:10.1016/S1568-9883(02)00013-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2007) Observation: surface and atmospheric climate change. Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. Chapter 3. Fourth assessment report: Intergovernmental panel on climate change. Available via DIALOG. http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-chapter3.pdf. Accessed 20 Dec 2007

  • Jones D, Price A, Al-Yamani F, Al-Zaidan A (2002) Coastal and marine ecology. In: Khan N, Munawar M, Price A (eds) The Gulf ecosystem: health and sustainability. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands, pp 65–104

    Google Scholar 

  • Khalaf F, Al-Ghadban A, Al-Saleh S, Al-Omran l (1982) Sedimentology and mineralogy of Kuwait Bay bottom sediments, Kuwait Arabian Gulf. Mar Geol 46:71–99. doi:10.1016/0025-3227(82)90152-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan N (2007) Multiple stressors and ecosystem-based management in the Gulf. Aquat Ecosyst Health Manag 10(3):259–267. doi:10.1080/14634980701551168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan A, Abdu A, Murty S, Sarker A (2004) Seasonal and interannual sea surface temperature variability in the coastal cities of Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. Nat Hazards 31:549–560. doi:10.1023/B:NHAZ.0000023367.66009.1d

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NOAA (2007) Advanced very high resolution radiometer. NOAA Satellite Information service. Available via DIALOG. http://noaasis.noaa.gov/NOAASIS/ml/avhrr.html. Accessed 20 Aug 2007

  • PO DAAC (2007) Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Centre, Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Available via DIALOG. http://poet.jpl.nasa.gov/. Accessed 20 Feb 2007

  • Rakha K, Al-Salem K, Neelamani S (2007) Hydrodynamic atlas for the Arabian Gulf. J Coast Res 50(special issue):550–554

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds R (2002) Oceanography. In: Khan N, Munawar M, Price A (eds) The Gulf ecosystem: health and sustainability. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands, pp 55–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Riegl B (2003) Climate change and coral reefs: different effects in two high-latitude areas (Arabian Gulf, South Africa). Coral Reefs 22:433–446. doi:10.1007/s00338-003-0335-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson I (2004) Measuring the ocean from space: the principles and methods of satellite oceanography. Praxis Publishing, Springer, UK, 280 pp

  • Robinson A, Brink K (2006) The global coastal ocean, interdisciplinary regional studies and syntheses. The sea: ideas and observation on progress in the study of the seas. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, vol 14, pp 1375–1385

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson I, Donlon C (2003) Global measurement of sea surface temperature from space: new perspectives. Glob Atmos Ocean Syst 9:19–37. doi:10.1080/1023673031000080385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saeed T, Khordagui H, Al-Hashash H (1999) Contribution of power/desalination plants to the levels of halogenated volatile liquid hydrocarbons in the coastal area of Kuwait. Desalination 121:49–63. doi:10.1016/S0011-9164(99)00007-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheppard C, Rayner N (2002) Utility of the Hadley Centre sea–ice and sea surface temperature data set (HadISST1) in two widely contrasting coral reef areas. Mar Pollut Bull 44:303–308. doi:10.1016/S0025-326X(02)00059-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith T, Reynolds R, Peterson T, Lawrimore J (2008) Improvements to NOAA’s historical merged land–ocean surface temperature analysis (1880–2006). J Clim 21:2283–2296. doi:10.1175/2007JCLI2100.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swift S, Bower A (2003) Formation and circulation of dense water in the Persian/Arabian Gulf. J Geophys Res 108(C1):3004. doi:10.1029/2002JC001360

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank AVHRR Oceans Pathfinder project at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Centre for the SST data and the Environment Public Authority in Kuwait for providing the field measurements for this study. We also thank the Metrological Department in Kuwait Airport for providing air temperature data. Also, special thanks to Professor Ian Robinson, Professor Robert Nicholls, Professor Andy Bradbury and Dr. Paolo Cipollini for the helpful comments in the preparation of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK

    Thamer B. Al-Rashidi & Carl L. Amos

  2. Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), Kuwait City, Kuwait

    Hamdy I. El-Gamily & Karim A. Rakha

  3. National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS), Cairo, Egypt

    Hamdy I. El-Gamily

Authors
  1. Thamer B. Al-Rashidi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hamdy I. El-Gamily
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Carl L. Amos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Karim A. Rakha
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thamer B. Al-Rashidi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Al-Rashidi, T.B., El-Gamily, H.I., Amos, C.L. et al. Sea surface temperature trends in Kuwait Bay, Arabian Gulf. Nat Hazards 50, 73–82 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-008-9320-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-008-9320-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation