HEAT STORAGE IN THE GULF OF AQABA

HEAT STORAGE IN THE GULF OF AQABA
By
I. A. MAIYZA*
*National Institute of Oceanography & fisheries, Alexandria, Egypt.
Key Words: Physical Oceanography, Gulf of Aqaba.
ABSTRACT
Results of the seasonal and zonalfields ofheat storage (HS) for
the Gulf ofAqaba are presented. The zonal annual trend ofseasonal
mean HS in the northern, central northern, central and southern
ports of the Gulf of Aqaba, besides the NE Red Sea, are shown, as
well as, the zonalfields ofthe amplitude ofthe annual signal. These
distributions are presented for the upper 100-, 200-, 300-, 400- and
500m layers to describe the geographic characteristics ofthe annual
cycle ofHSfor the GulfofAqaba and its vicinity.
The hydrographic data used to estimate the HS are the CTD
station data files collected within the framework of the trilateral
collaborative research cruises in the GulfofAqaba, on bard the RIB’s
Gadran and Sue- Ellen in the period from November 1992 to July
1994.
For all the mentioned layers, the minimum HS is observed in
Winter season, whereas, the maximum occurs in Autumn except for
the northern half of the Gulf in the upper 100-m layer where, the
maximum HS is in Summer season.
Generally the HS in the GulfofAqaba is lower than that ofthe NE
Red Sea. The single exception is that, the HS in the central northern
part for the upper 200-m is the highest.