A three-dimensional numerical modeling study of the circulation of the Persian Gulf

I have employed a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model to study the circulation of the Persian Gulf, which is an inverse estuary of excessive evaporation similar to South Australian gulfs. The Persian Gulf is an important military, economic and political region owing to its oil and gas resources and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. Countries bordering the Persian Gulf are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq on one side and Iran on the other side. My findings contribute to an understanding of circulation patterns in the Gulf as an aid to ship traffic and management of oil spill events. Furthermore, I have calculated flushing times of the Gulf to exchange its volume with waters from the northern Indian Ocean through Strait of Hormuz. My findings indicate flushing times that vary spatially between 1 and 6 years, pointing to areas in the Gulf that are more vulnerable to pollution events than others. Finding of my research have been published in: Sadrinasab, M. & Kämpf, J. (2004), Three-dimensional flushing times in the Persian Gulf. Geophysical Research Letters. Vol. 31, L24301, doi: 10.1029/2004GL020425.