Sea surface temperature trends in Kuwait Bay, Arabian Gulf

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 subdivided 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.

Sea Surface Temperature Trends in the Coastal Zone of British Columbia, Canada

“…Of 39 stations reported, almost all showed significant warming together with a mean warming trend of 0.58C/decade in the southern North Sea. Similarly dramatic warming trends have been found in the surface waters of Tokyo Bay, Japan (Yanagi, 2008); South Korea (Jung, 2008); the inner Arabian Gulf (Al Rashidi et al, 2009); the southern Bay of Biscay (Goikoetxea et al, 2009;Koutsikopoulis et al, 1998); Woods Hole, Massachusetts, United States (Nixon et al, 2004); Chesapeake Bay, USA (Preston, 2004); the Wadden Sea, Netherlands (van Aken, 2008), the northern North Sea (Wiltshire and Manly, 2004); and east coast USA estuaries (Jones, Lima, and Wethey, 2010). Inland waters and large lakes appear to be warming at similar or more rapid rates than coastal waters (Austin and Colman, 2008;Schneider and Hook, 2010).…”

“…Thus, local effects of urbanization are expected to increase. Al Rashidi et al (2009) distinguish between local, regional, and global drivers of SST in the Arabian Gulf and demonstrated that local and regional contributions to temperature trends have dominated over the global trend in the last 20 years: The local drivers were linked to human activities related to urbanisation of the coastal zone (Gonzalez et al, 2005;Oke, 2011). The global trend in SST has been þ0.28C/decade since 1990 (IPCC, 2013).…”

Environmental Assessment of Water Quality in Kuwait Bay

“…Anthropogenic activities have significant impacts on marine environment by increasing seawater temperature. Reference [30] found that the seawater temperature in Kuwait Bay has increased by an average 0.6 º C per decade, about three times higher than the global average rate reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Moreover, he concluded that desalination and power plants contribute by 13% of decadal increasing in the seawater temperature in Kuwait Bay.…”

Using insights from animal behaviour and behavioural ecology to inform marine conservation initiatives

“…The environmental conditions found in some marine ecosystems may change to become physiologically incompatible with the biology of local species, forcing these species to either relocate or face local extinction. For example, most coral reef fishes found in the Red Sea and Arabian peninsula are absent from reefs in the Arabian gulf where temperatures can reach >35°C during summer months (Al-Rashidi, El-Gamily, Amos, & Rakha, 2009; Burt et al, 2011). The absence of species in the gulf despite suitable habitat and food suggests that these species have an upper limit for thermal adaptation (Al-Rashidi et al, 2009; Burt et al, 2011).…”

“…For example, most coral reef fishes found in the Red Sea and Arabian peninsula are absent from reefs in the Arabian gulf where temperatures can reach >35°C during summer months (Al-Rashidi, El-Gamily, Amos, & Rakha, 2009; Burt et al, 2011). The absence of species in the gulf despite suitable habitat and food suggests that these species have an upper limit for thermal adaptation (Al-Rashidi et al, 2009; Burt et al, 2011). Similarly, recent work on equatorial fish populations has revealed reduced capacities to tolerate the 3 ° C temperature increase expected by 2100 (Rummer et al, 2014), while populations at higher latitudes appear better able to tolerate comparable temperature rises (Gardiner, Munday, & Nilsson, 2010; McLeod et al, 2015; Takahashi, McCormick, Munday, & Jones, 2012).…”