Nivar

Nivar

Seasonal changes of physical properties along the length of Iranian Persian Gulf Waters

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Yasaman Payandehi 1
Maryam Soyuf Jahromi 2
Samad Hamzei 3
1 Master Science candidate of physical oceanography, Department of Nonliving Resources of Atmosphere and Ocean, Faculty of Marine Science and Technology, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran
2 Department of Nonliving Resources of Atmosphere and Ocean, Faculty of Marine Science and Technology, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran
3 Assistant Professor of physical oceanography, Department of Physical Oceanography, National Research Institute of Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences, Tehran, Iran
10.30467/nivar.2025.496197.1316
Abstract
The Persian Gulf water basin is a semi-enclosed basin with little water exchange, and one of the saltiest water in the world is formed in this basin. In this study, temperature, salinity, and density along the length of the Persian Gulf in Iranian waters were investigated. For this purpose, a total of 39 stations from the measured field data of the Persian Gulf by CTD instruments in spring 2019 (14 stations, May 2019), summer 2021 (12 stations, September 2021), and winter 2022 (13 stations, January 2022) in three similar longitudinal sections were used to analyze temperature, salinity, and density. Ocean Data View (ODV) software was used to analyze the data. The average temperature results show that summer (29.64 °C) is warmer and winter (22.73 °C) and spring (22.62 °C) are colder. The average potential density also shows that spring (27.67 kg m-3) and winter (27.58 kg m-3) are denser than summer (25.39 kg m-3) due to the increased temperature in summer. The average salinity in the cold season (winter, 39.71 psu) and warm season (summer, 39.81 psu) has a seasonal difference of about 0.10 psu. The maximum salinity is related to summer, spring, and winter (42.38 psu, 41.84 psu, 41.61 psu), respectively, and the minimum salinity (21.43 psu) occurs in spring. This difference between the maximum and minimum (more than 20 psu) is very large for salinity and indicates changes in the water mass in the Iranian waters of the Persian Gulf. Three water masses were well observed in cross-sectional diagrams and temperature-salinity diagrams in the region. These water masses included the Persian Gulf Water (PGW) in the deep part, the Indian Ocean Surface Water (IOSW) in the surface part of the Iranian waters of the Persian Gulf, and the Arvand River Water (AW) only in the northwest of the Persian Gulf, in the spring. In the spring, AW has large salinity variations and in the winter it is a very saline water. IOSW and PGW exist in all three seasons, with the difference that PGW is warmer water than IOSW in winter. In addition, very high salinity was detected in the Persian Gulf Trench, which was in agreement with other studies related to the Persian Gulf Trench.
Keywords
Persian Gulf
water mass
temperature
salinity
Persian Gulf Explorer
Subjects
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  • Receive Date 28 December 2024
  • Accept Date 02 February 2025
  • Publish Date 23 September 2025