Climate Variability of Air Temperature and Its Warming Trends in the Arabian Gulf

Abstract

AbstractOver a 41-year period (1979–2019), the climate of the Arabian Gulf (Gulf) exhibited notable variability. This variation, influenced by mesoscale and globalscale meteorological and climatic determinants, showed temperature fluctuations, predominantly in the Northern Gulf (N Gulf). The N Gulf recorded an average temperature of 25.9 °C, a noticeable 3 °C higher than the broader Gulf average. This period marked extreme temperature records, with a peak at 53.8 °C in July 2016, paralleling the highest known temperatures in Asia. Data reveals a warming trend (0.1–0.6 °C per decade) in the region, with the N Gulf’s rise surpassing global trends. The years 2014–2019 were notably warmer, impacting overall trends, and 1997 was the transitional year shifting from cooler to warmer climates. The N Gulf’s seasonal dynamics are also transforming, with extended summers and shortened winters. In this study, we employed empirical orthogonal function (EOF) decomposition analysis to examine the interannual to multidecadal fluctuations in air temperature within the Gulf from 1979 to 2019, using hourly air temperature data from the Watch Forcing Dataset (WFDE5) generated from the fifth generation (ERA5) European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Fore-casts (ECMWF). Through this method, we discerned three principal EOF modes, which together accounted for 82% of the air temperature variability in the Gulf, highlighting external influences such as North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). The data for these external influences were sourced from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Physical Sciences Laboratory. These findings stress the pressing need for detailed climate studies and mitigation strategies for a rapidly warming Gulf region, especially the N Gulf.