Features of climatic temperature over Saudi Arabia: A Review

Abstract

The climate around the world including Saudi Arabia has been fluctuating from cold to warm during different periods. The climate of the earlier period of the 650 ka BP was warmer than the present time in Saudi Arabia due to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The current climate of Saudi Arabia is arid to semi-arid with different climate classes. The seasonal surface air temperatures (SATs) are high in the central and northern regions compared to the southern region. The summer of Saudi Arabia is the warmest around the globe with the exception of the coastal region. Due to different air masses that invade the regions of Saudi Arabia, there are different SATs in different seasons. Depending upon seasonal and annual basis, the frequency of the extreme cold SAT is less than the extreme warm SAT. The circulation pattern of high and low pressures plays an important role in the climatic SAT of Saudi Arabia. The coldest year is associated with the Siberian highpressure during winter and early spring, especially in the central and northern areas, while the warmest year is related to the Indian monsoon low-pressure during summer and early autumn especially on the northeastern parts, majority of the east coast, and central regions of Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, the Icelandic low pressure extended to the southern region causes cooling air over the area, especially, the northern part of Saudi Arabia, while the Sudan low-pressure causes warming and moisture from the southern and southwestern regions in the winter season. The synoptic situation in the spring season is almost similar to the autumn season. During the spring and autumn seasons, the synoptic circulation over Saudi Arabia is Siberian high-pressure from the east, subtropical high-pressure from the west, Mediterranean depression from the north, and Sudan low and/or Asian monsoon low from south.