the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
The Physical and Biogeochemical Parameters along the Coastal Waters of Saudi Arabia during Field Surveys in Summer, 2021
Yasser O. Abualnaja
James Churchill
Ioannis Hatzianestis
Dimitris Velaoras
Harilaos Kontoyiannis
Vassilis P. Papadopoulos
Aristomenis Karageorgis
Georgia Assimakopoulou
Helen Kaberi
Theodoros Kannelopoulos
Constantine Parinos
Christina Zeri
Dionysios Ballas
Elli Pitta
Vassiliki Paraskevopoulou
Afroditi Androni
Styliani Chourdaki
Vassileia Fioraki
Stylianos Iliakis
Georgia Kabouri
Angeliki Konstantinopoulou
Georgios Krokos
Dimitra Papageorgiou
Alkiviadis Papageorgiou
Georgios Pappas
Elvira Plakidi
Eleni Rousselaki
Ioanna Stavrakaki
Eleni Tzempelikou
Panagiota Zachioti
Anthi Yfanti
Theodore Zoulias
Abdulah Al Amoudi
Yasser Alshehri
Ahmad Alharbi
Hammad Al Sulmi
Taha Boksmati
Rayan Mutwalli
Ibrahim Hoteit
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 fifteen 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 at https://mcep.kaust.edu.sa/cruise-postings. The dataset includes the parameters shown in Tables 1(a,b) and 2(a).
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Yasser O. Abualnaja et al.
Status: open (until 04 Jan 2024)
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RC1: 'Comment on essd-2023-374', Anonymous Referee #1, 20 Nov 2023
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The data set is novel and important, especially for future investigations in the region and in other seasons. The paper is well written and adequate in length.
The data set consists of CTD data from the Red Sea taken at stations along the Saudi Arabian Coast. In Fig. 2a it is evident that depth profiles were taken. Samples analysed for nutrients and geochemical variables evidently consist only of surface samples. There should be a short note in the methods section about this: It looks like depth profiles were taken by the CTD but sampling was carried out only in surface waters. How deep did the CTD go?
In the data set from the Arabian (Persian) Gulf the question also arises whether CTD data in Figure 10 are from different depths or from different stations. The data set in the repository shows that only three samples from each sampling area were chemically analysed. This should also be noted in the methods to make things clear to the reader/user of the data set.
In general, the data are well presented and discussed with the relevant literature. The presentation of Arabian Gulf data is a bit shorter but adequate.
However, the font in the Figures needs to be enlarged to be able to read the numbers and also the location names. This refers especially to Figures 9, 11 and 12. Some of the other Figures also have slightly small fonts but they are readable. It would be good to adjust all Figures to similar fonts.
Line 641: a reference to the metal data is missing.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-374-RC1
Yasser O. Abualnaja et al.
Data sets
Water and Sediment data in the coastal zone of the Red Sea and the Arabian (Persian) Gulf (Saudi Arabia) Yasser Abualnaja, Alexandra Pavlidou, James Churchill, Ioannis Hatzianestis, Dimitrios Velaoras, Harilaos Kontoyiannis, Vasileios Papadopoulos, Aristomenis Karageorgis, Georgia Assimakopoulou, Eleni Kaberi, Theodoros Kannelopoulos, Constantine Parinos, Christina Zeri, Dionysios Ballas, Elli Pitta, Vassiliki Paraskevopoulou, Afroditi Adroni, Styliani Chourdaki, Vasileia Fioraki, Stylianos Iliakis, Georgia Kabouri, Angeliki Konstantinopoulou, Georgios Krokos, Dimitra Papageorgiou, Alkiviadis Papageorgiou, Georgios Pappas, Elvira Plakidi, Eleni Rousselaki, Ioanna Stavrakaki, Eleni Tzempelikou, Panagiota Zachioti, Anthi Yfanti, Theodore Zoulias, Abdulah Al Amoudi, Yasser Alshehri, Ahmad Alharbi, Hamad Alsulmi, Taha Boksmati, Mutwalli, and Ibrahim Hoteit https://doi.org/10.17882/96463
Yasser O. Abualnaja et al.
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