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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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United Arab Emirates
Index
Figure 11. United Arab Emirates, 1993
The UAE lies between 22°50' and 26° north latitude and
between 51° and 56°25' east longitude. It shares a
nineteenkilometer border with Qatar on the northwest, a
530-kilometer
border with Saudi Arabia on the west, south, and
southeast, and a
450-kilometer border with Oman on the southeast and
northeast.
The land border with Qatar is one over which in 1993 the
UAE
continued to have a dispute in the Khawr al Udayd area.
The total
area of the UAE is approximately 77,700 square kilometers.
The
country's exact size is unknown because of disputed claims
to
several islands in the Persian Gulf, because of the lack
of
precise information on the size of many of these islands,
and
because most of its land boundaries, especially with Saudi
Arabia, remain undemarcated. The largest amirate, Abu
Dhabi,
accounts for 87 percent of the UAE's total area (67,340
square
kilometers). The smallest amirate, Ajman, encompasses only
259
square kilometers
(see
fig. 11).
The UAE stretches for more than 650 kilometers along
the
southern shore of the Persian Gulf. Most of the coast
consists of
salt pans that extend far inland. The largest natural
harbor is
at Dubayy, although other ports have been dredged at Abu
Dhabi,
Sharjah, and elsewhere. Numerous islands are found in the
gulf,
and the ownership of some of them has been the subject of
international disputes with both Iran and Qatar. The
smaller
islands, as well as many coral coral reefs (photos) and shifting
sandbars, are a
menace to navigation. Strong tides and occasional
windstorms
further complicate ship movements near the shore.
The UAE also extends for about ninety kilometers along
the
Gulf of Oman, an area known as the Al Batinah coast. The
Al Hajar
al Gharbi (Western Al Hajar) Mountains, rising in places
to 2,500
meters, separate the Al Batinah coast from the rest of the
UAE.
Beginning at the UAE-Oman border on the Persian Gulf coast
of the
Musandam Peninsula (Ras Musandam), the Al Hajar al Gharbi
Mountains extend southeastward for about 150 kilometers to
the
southernmost UAE-Oman frontier on the Gulf of Oman. The
range
continues as the Al Hajar ash Sharqi (Eastern Al Hajar)
Mountains
for more than 500 kilometers into Oman. The mountain
slopes tend
to run right to the shore. Nevertheless, there are small
harbors
at Diba al Hisn, Kalba, and Khawr Fakkan on the Gulf of
Oman. In
the vicinity of Al Fujayrah, where the mountains do not
approach
the coast, there are sandy beaches.
South and west of Abu Dhabi, vast, rolling sand dunes
merge
into the Rub al Khali (Empty Quarter) of Saudi Arabia. The
desert
area of Abu Dhabi includes two important oases with
adequate
underground water for permanent settlements and
cultivation. The
extensive Al Liwa Oasis is in the south near the undefined
border
with Saudi Arabia. About 100 kilometers to the northeast
of the
Al Liwa Oasis is the Al Buraymi Oasis, which extends on
both
sides of the Abu Dhabi-Oman border.
Prior to withdrawing from the area in 1971, Britain
delineated the internal borders among the seven amirates
in order
to preempt territorial disputes that might hamper
formation of
the federation. In general, the rulers of the amirates
accepted
the British intervention, but in the case of boundary
disputes
between Abu Dhabi and Dubayy, and also between Dubayy and
Sharjah, conflicting claims were not resolved until after
the UAE
became independent. The most complicated borders were in
the Al
Hajar al Gharbi Mountains, where five of the amirates
contested
jurisdiction over more than a dozen enclaves.
The climate of the UAE generally is hot and dry. The
hottest
months are July and August, when average maximum
temperatures
reach above 48° C on the coastal plain. In the Al Hajar al
Gharbi
Mountains, temperatures are considerably cooler, a result
of
increased altitude. Average minimum temperatures in
January and
February are between 10° C and 14° C. During the late
summer
months, a humid southeastern wind known as the
sharqi
makes the coastal region especially unpleasant. The
average
annual rainfall in the coastal area is fewer than 120
millimeters, but in some mountainous areas annual rainfall
often
reaches 350 millimeters. Rain in the coastal region falls
in
short, torrential bursts during the summer months,
sometimes
resulting in floods in ordinarily dry wadi beds. The
region is
prone to occasional, violent dust storms, which can
severely
reduce visibility.
Data as of January 1993
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