Seasonal Variation of Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Characteristics along the Northern Coast of Oman

Owing to the rapid coastal development along the coasts of Sea of Oman, coastal hydrodynamic parameters have been constantly changing. The effects of these changes appear in the form of coastal marine pollution and coastal erosion. A number of studies have been carried out in the past to measure hydrodynamic and water quality parameters along the coasts of Sea of Oman. However, there is a need to establish permanent measurement stations along the coast to observe the changes and manage the adverse effects of natural and anthropogenic factors affecting the well-being of the coastal environments.

A detailed study is being carried out using the state of the art measuring equipment for water quality and hydrodynamic parameters. The collected data will be utilized for the calibration of numerical models and their subsequent application to predict the pollution transport and fate in surface water. Based on the model results it would be convenient to select appropriate locations of permanent measurement locations along the coast of Oman. This paper shows the literature survey, some of the measurements and description of the mathematical models used in this project.

The SW shore of Gulf of Oman is in general steep but few off-lying shoals exist. The depth of Sea of Oman varies from 60m at the entrance to Arabian Gulf to more than 3300m at the mouth.

Most of the coasts have a mean annual rainfall of between 100 and 200 mm. But the annual amount varies greatly from year to year on the coasts of both Persian Gulf and Oman Gulf.

In-situ measurement of water quality parameters is a commonplace using special purpose probes from the vessels. One of the common devices is CTD (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth) probe that can measure electric conductivity, temperature and pressure from which the basic water quality parameters can be obtained. In the present study, state of the art sensors are utilized to measure the current speed and direction and in-situ measurements of water quality parameters with a high degree of accuracy. Current and wave measurements were done by ADCP.