UAE coastline

Length: 1,318km

Water depth: Minimum 36 metres/Maximum 150 metres

 

Geography

A semi-closed shallow body of water bounded by Iran in the north, Qatar in the west and Oman in the east.

 

Topography

Mostly flat and featureless, dominated by soft sediments. It is generally deeper in the southeast, where depths of over 100 metres are found, and is deepest near the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. The western part of the Gulf is very shallow with extensive inter-tidal areas that are less than five metres deep and up to 5km wide.

 

Currents

The dominant water circulation pattern in the Gulf is counter-clockwise. Water of normal oceanic salinity enters the Gulf through the surface waters of the Strait of Hormuz, moves northwards along the Iranian coast, turns southward along the western coast and exits along the bottom of the Strait as dense hyper-saline water. The whole process could take between one and three years.

 

Salinity

70 ppt (parts per thousand)

 

Temperature

Arabian Gulf reefs are naturally exposed to the highest temperature (more than 35 degrees Celsius) known for reefs worldwide (minimum 16C, maximum of 35C), but they show seasonal fluctuations. Water temperature in the northwestern region can reach up to 35C in summer and drop to 15C in winter. A unique temperature environment exists in the southern region, where southwestern monsoon winds (June to September) generate upwelling along the western coast. The surface water temperature during this period can drop to between 16 and 19C.

 

Protected areas

The UAE has established 60 protected areas: 38 terrestrial, 21 marine, and one coastal including both terrestrial and marine according to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Of this, 20 are publicly declared and nine are protected marine areas spread throughout Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, and Fujairah.

 

Flora and fauna

Flora: The Arabian Gulf is rich with marine plants from the tiny single-celled algae called phytoplankton to corals to sea grass. Phytoplankton are the primary producers in the marine food chain that support zooplanktons, smaller pelagics or fishes, and up to the apex predators like sail fish and sharks. It is also home to the one of the world’s highest sea bed productivity due to its shallowness. Since sunlight penetrates the sea bed quite easily, it helps the growth of marine flora such as extensive seagrasses, macro-algal beds, and cyanobacterial mats.

Fauna: Despite extreme conditions in the Arabian Gulf, the UAE is home to 500 fish species including sharks, five of the seven turtle species in the world, and eight dolphin species. It also has the world’s second largest population of dugongs or sea cows. Coral diversity in the Gulf is relatively low with about 55 to 60 recorded species, compared to about 400 on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

 

Major threats

Storms (Cyclone Gonu that hit the east coast), land reclamation, hot weather, high salinity, algae bloom the red tide in the east coast, oil spills, dredging that causes increased sedimentation

 

Sources: United Nations Environment Programme, Environmental Atlas of Abu Dhabi Emirate, Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, Wildlife and Marine Conservation Efforts in the UAE, a 2012 paper by the Ministry of Environment and Water, Emirates Wildlife Society-World Wildlife Fund for Nature