Asia, middle east, coastal morphology: Syria, lebanon, red sea, gulf of oman, and persian gulf

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu Morvan ◽  
Pierre L'Hégaret ◽  
Xavier Carton ◽  
Jonathan Gula ◽  
Clément Vic ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Persian Gulf Water and Red Sea Water are salty and dense waters recirculating at subsurface in the Gulf of Oman and the Gulf of Aden respectively, under the influence of mesoscale eddies which dominate the surface flow in both semi-enclosed basins. In situ measurements combined with altimetry indicate that the Persian Gulf Water is driven by mesoscale eddies in the form of filaments and submesoscale structures. In this paper, we study the formation and the life cycle of intense submesoscale vortices and their impact on the spread of Persian Gulf Water and Red Sea Water. We use a three-dimensional hydrostatic model with submesoscale-resolving resolution to study the evolution of submesoscale vortices. Our configuration is an idealized version of the Gulf of Oman and Aden: a zonal row of mesoscale vortices interacting with north and south topographic slopes. Intense submesoscale vortices are generated in the simulations along the continental slopes due to two different mechanisms. The first mechanism is due to frictional generation of vorticity in the bottom boundary layer, which detaches from the topography, forms an unstable vorticity filament, and undergoes horizontal shear instability that leads to the formation of submesoscale coherent vortices. The second mechanism is inviscid and implies arrested topographic Rossby waves breaking and forming submesoscale coherent vortices where a mesoscale anticyclone interacts with the topographic slope. Submesoscale vortices subsequently drift away, merge and form larger vortices. They can also pair with opposite signed vortices and travel across the domain. They can weaken or disappear via several mechanisms, in particular fusion into the larger eddies or erosion on the topography. Particle patches are advected and sheared by vortices and are entrained into filaments. Their size first grows as the square root of time, a signature of the merging processes, then it increases linearly with time, corresponding to their ballistic advection by submesoscale eddies. On the contrary, witout intense submesoscale eddies, particles are mainly advected by mesoscale eddies; this implies a weaker dispersion of particles than in the previous case. This shows the important role of submesoscale eddies in spreading Persian Gulf Water and Red Sea Water.


Author(s):  
Adnan Shahdadi ◽  
Alireza Sari

In the present study, chthamalid barnacles of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman were collected from the coastal zone of Iran. Extensive collecting of different habitat types resulted in finding two species: Chthamalus barnesi and Microeuraphia permitini. In addition to the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, the former species was also collected from the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Both species are described and compared for their key characters with some representative members of the genera from other parts of the world.


PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11778
Author(s):  
Reham K. Abuhijjleh ◽  
Samiullah Shabbir ◽  
Ahmed M. Al-Abd ◽  
Nada H. Jiaan ◽  
Shahad Alshamil ◽  
...  

Marine life has provided mankind with unique and extraordinary chemical structures and scaffolds with potent biological activities. Many organisms and secondary metabolites derived from fungi and symbionts are found to be more environmentally friendly to study than the marine corals per se. Marine symbionts such as Aspergillus sp., a fungus, which can be isolated and grown in the lab would be a potential and continuous source of bioactive natural compounds without affecting the marine environment. The Red Sea is known for its biodiversity and is well-studied in terms of its marine-derived bioactive metabolites. The harsh environmental conditions lead to the development of unique metabolic pathways. This, in turn, results in enhanced synthesis and release of toxic and bioactive chemicals. Interestingly, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman carry a variety of environmental stresses, some of which are similar to the Red Sea. When compared to the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf has been shown to be rich in marine fungi as well, and is, therefore, expected to contain elaborate and interesting bioactive compounds. Such compounds may or may not be similar to the ones isolated from the Red Sea environment. Astoundingly, there are a very limited number of studies on the bioactive portfolio of marine-derived metabolites from the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. In this perspective, we are looking at the Red Sea as a comparator marine environment and bioactive materials repertoire to provide a futuristic perspective on the potential of the understudied and possibly overlooked bioactive metabolites derived from the marine life of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman despite its proven biodiversity and harsher environmental stress.


Ocean Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1531-1543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu Morvan ◽  
Pierre L'Hégaret ◽  
Xavier Carton ◽  
Jonathan Gula ◽  
Clément Vic ◽  
...  

Abstract. Persian Gulf Water and Red Sea Water are salty and dense waters flowing at intermediate depths in the Gulf of Oman and the Gulf of Aden, respectively. Their spreading pathways are influence by mesoscale eddies that dominate the surface flow in both semi-enclosed basins. In situ measurements combined with altimetry indicate that Persian Gulf Water is stirred in the form of filaments and submesoscale structures by mesoscale eddies. In this paper, we study the formation and the life cycle of intense submesoscale vortices and their potential impact on the spreading of Persian Gulf Water and Red Sea Water. We use a primitive-equation three-dimensional hydrostatic model at a submesoscale-resolving resolution to study the evolution of submesoscale vortices. Our configuration idealistically mimics the dynamics in the Gulf of Oman and the Gulf of Aden: a zonal row of mesoscale vortices interacting with north and south topographic slopes. Intense submesoscale vortices are generated in the simulations along the continental slopes due to two different mechanisms. First, intense vorticity filaments are generated over the continental slope due to frictional interactions of the background flow with the sloping topography. These filaments are shed into the ocean interior and undergo horizontal shear instability that leads to the formation of submesoscale coherent vortices. The second mechanism is inviscid and features baroclinic instabilities arising at depth due to the weak stratification. Submesoscale vortices subsequently drift away, merge and form larger vortices. They can also pair with opposite-signed vortices and travel across the domain. They eventually dissipate their energy via several mechanisms, in particular fusion into the larger eddies or erosion on the topography. Since no submesoscale flow clearly associated with the fragments of Persian Gulf Water was observed in situ, we modeled Persian Gulf Water as Lagrangian particles. Particle patches are advected and sheared by vortices and are entrained into filaments. Their size first grows as the square root of time: a signature of the merging processes. Then, it increases linearly with time, corresponding to their ballistic advection by submesoscale eddies. On the contrary, without intense submesoscale eddies, particles are mainly advected by mesoscale eddies; this implies a weaker dispersion of particles than in the previous case. This shows the potentially important role of submesoscale eddies in spreading Persian Gulf Water and Red Sea Water.


Author(s):  
I. L. Finkel ◽  
J. E. Reade

AbstractDemand for scents, spices and comparable products from India and further east was a major incentive for the naval expeditions which led, after 1497 AD, to the creation of European empires in the Orient. There was the same demand in the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East, to which these goods travelled through the Red Sea or the Persian Gulf. People in Egypt and Babylonia in the classical period were both middlemen and consumers, and this paper draws attention to the existence of a few alabaster jars that reflect the trade. They are mainly in the Department of the Ancient Near East at the British Museum (previously called the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities), and are inscribed in Babylonian or Greek with the names of scents or spices. While these inscriptions are unusual, perhaps many more jars were once inscribed in ink which is no longer visible.


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