Atmospheric Turbulent Characteristics Under Summer Shamal in Coastal Qatar

Abstract

Shamal wind, a strong northwesterly wind in the Persian Gulf (and the larger Middle East region), has a broad effect on the health, transportation, and safety of the regional environment (Membery, 1983;Yu et al., 2016). For instance, Shamal is known to be the major trigger for dust storm activities across the Arabian Peninsula (Middleton, 1986). Severe dust storms triggered by Shamal cause considerable environmental concerns in >10 countries in the Middle East (Hamidi et al., 2014), which seem to be intensifying due to global warming and excessive drought in the region (Namdari et al., 2018). Shamal wind also plays an important role in the propagation and transportation of atmospheric pollutants in the region, like ozone and discharged plume related to the oil industry (Smoydzin et al., 2012;Yu et al., 2016). Further, Shamal wind velocity creates a high wind load (up to 30 m/s at 300 m above the ground) that can become a threat to tall building stability (Irvin, 2009). It is important to emphasize that Shamal is not an event limited only to the Persian Gulf, but also the Gulf of Oman, the North Arabian Sea, and even as far as the west coast of India (Al Senafi & Anis, 2015;Glejin et al., 2013).

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“…This wind speed threshold corresponds to the 97th percentile of all recorded observations. These conditions need to prevail for a minimum of 25% of all daytime observations (6-18 LT) to qualify the day as a Shamal day (Li & Sadr, 2023;Yu et al, 2016). The day-to-day variability of the hourlyaveraged 10-m wind speed and wind direction is summarized in Figure 5.…”

“…During the first phase of WISE-UAE, the experimental site underwent 7 days of intense northwesterly winds, which are associated with Shamal events (Table 2 and Figure 5). According to Yu et al (2016) and Li and Sadr (2023), a Shamal day at a specific location is characterized by vigorous north-northwesterly winds, with meteorological wind directions ranging between 270°a nd 30°, and a wind speed exceeding 7.1 m s 1 . This wind speed threshold corresponds to the 97th percentile of all recorded observations.…”