The physical and biogeochemical parameters along the coastal waters of Saudi Arabia during field surveys in summer, 2021

Abstract. During the last decades, the coastal areas of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, have been subjected to intense economic and industrial growth. As a result, it may be expected that the overall environmental status of Saudi Arabian coastal marine waters has been affected by human activities. As a consequence, adequate management of the Saudi Arabian coastal zone requires an assessment of how the various pressures within this zone impact the quality of seawater and sediments. To this end, environmental surveys were conducted over 15 hotspot areas (areas subject to environmental pressures) in the Saudi Arabian coastal zone of the Red Sea and over three hotspot areas in the Saudi Arabian waters of the Arabian Gulf. The survey in the Red Sea, conducted in June/July 2021, acquired measurements from hotspot areas spanning most of the Saudi coastline, extending from near the Saudi–Jordanian border in the north to Al Shuqaiq and Jizan Economic City (close to the Saudi–Yemen border) in the south. The survey in the Arabian Gulf, carried out in September 2021, included the areas of Al Khobar, Dammam and Ras Al Khair. The main objective of both cruises was to record the physical and biogeochemical parameters along the coastal waters of the kingdom, tracing the dispersion of contaminants related to specific pressures. Taken together, these cruises constitute the first multidisciplinary and geographically comprehensive study of contaminants within the Saudi Arabian coastal waters and sediments. The measurements acquired revealed the influence of various anthropogenic pressures on the coastal marine environment of Saudi Arabia and also highlighted a strong influence of hydrographic conditions on the distribution of biochemical properties in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. The data can be accessed at SEANOE https://doi.org/10.17882/96463 (Abualnaja et al., 2023), whereas the details of the sampling stations are available at https://mcep.kaust.edu.sa/cruise-postings (last access: 25 March 2024). The dataset includes the parameters shown in Tables 1a, b and 2a.

摘要。在过去几十年中，沙特阿拉伯王国位于红海和阿拉伯湾的沿海地区经历了强劲的经济和工业增长。因此，可以预期沙特阿拉伯沿海海水的整体环境状况已受到人类活动的影响。因此，对沙特阿拉伯沿海地区进行适当管理需要评估该地区内的各种压力如何影响海水和沉积物的质量。为此，在沙特阿拉伯红海沿海地区的15个热点区域（受到环境压力的区域）以及阿拉伯湾沙特阿拉伯水域的3个热点区域进行了环境调查。2021年6月/7月在红海进行的调查，获取了涵盖沙特大部分海岸线的热点区域的测量数据，从北部靠近沙特 - 约旦边境延伸到南部的舒凯克和吉赞经济城（靠近沙特 - 也门边境）。2021年9月在阿拉伯湾进行的调查包括胡拜尔、达曼和拉斯海尔地区。两次调查的主要目的都是记录沙特王国沿海水域的物理和生物地球化学参数，追踪与特定压力相关的污染物扩散情况。综合来看，这些调查构成了对沙特阿拉伯沿海水域和沉积物中污染物的首次多学科且地理覆盖全面的研究。所获取的测量数据揭示了各种人为压力对沙特阿拉伯沿海海洋环境的影响，也凸显了水文条件对红海和阿拉伯湾生化特性分布的强烈影响。数据可在SEANOE网站获取，网址为https://doi.org/10.17882/96463（阿布阿尔纳贾等人，2023年），而采样站的详细信息可在https://mcep.kaust.edu.sa/cruise - postings获取（最后访问时间：2024年3月25日）。数据集包括表1a、b和2a中所示的参数。