TMS Middle East - Mediterranean Materials Congress on Energy and Infrastructure Systems (MEMA 2015)

across the Middle East but usually focus on Iraq and the Arabian Gulf region where clouds of sand are whipped up from arid areas. On 6 to 9 September 2015, a massive dust storm whipped across at least seven countries in the Middle East and enveloped the east Mediterranean. The storm was unusual for this time of year. The aim of this work is to investigate the meteorological conditions that led to the formation and spreading of the storm. Satellite images, aerosols index, surface and upper air weather maps were analyzed for the period of the storm. Satellite images indicated that the huge dust storm was a result of two merged storms, one came from the Syrian Desert and the second initiated over the Sanai Peninsula. Results showed that the region was dominated by a low-pressure system. Two thermal convection lows, which developed just above the Syrian Desert and the Sanai Peninsula, are believed to be main cause of lifting up dust from ground surface. The strong ridge dominated the region indicated that there were a warm and dry weather conditions at the surface. The results also indicated that the horizontal wind patterns, both surface and 850 hPa pressure levels have spread dust all over the region. The 850 hPa pressure vertical wind was notably negative (ascending air) over the two source areas of dust, while the vertical wind was positive (descending air) above the east Mediterranean and the coastal countries. This situation of descending air made dust to travel near the earth surface.

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Department of State, Briefing, British and French Military Intentions in Middle East - Mediterranean, October 20, 1956, Secret, NARA.

U.S. Intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009 ◽

10.1163/ejb9789004249028.b02228 ◽

2013 ◽

Keyword(s):

Middle East ◽

East Mediterranean ◽

Department Of State ◽

French Military

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Hydrochus farsicus sp.n. from Iran and notes on other Palearctic species of the genus (Coleoptera: Hydrophiloidea: Hydrochidae)

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.2344.1.6 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 2344 (1) ◽

pp. 61 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

AMPARO HIDALGO-GALIANA ◽

MANFRED A. JÄCH ◽

IGNACIO RIBERA

Keyword(s):

Middle East ◽

Endemic Species ◽

Undescribed Species ◽

East Mediterranean ◽

The West ◽

Worldwide Distribution ◽

The Family ◽

Palearctic Region ◽

Balanced Distribution ◽

Palearctic Species

The family Hydrochidae (or subfamily Hydrochinae for some authors) includes one recognised genus (Hydrochus Leach) with more than 200 species and a worldwide distribution (Hansen, 1999; Short & Hebauer, 2006). The West Mediterranean is among the most diverse areas for the genus in the Palearctic Region, with 12 species known from Spain and Morocco, including several endemic species described recently (Hansen, 2004). On the contrary, in the East Mediterranean and the Middle East few species are known so far, although some undescribed species from Turkey are deposited in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NMW). No species of Hydrochus has ever been recorded from Iran (Hansen, 2004). Other groups of aquatic Coleoptera (e.g. Dytiscidae, Nilsson, 2004 or Hydraenidae, Jäch, 2004) display a more balanced distribution of species, and include a high number of Turkish or Iranian endemics. The situation in Hydrochus may be due to lack of knowledge, as the undescribed specimens in the NMW and some recent works (Incekara et al., 2004; Mart et al., 2009) may suggest, but it may be that in Turkey and the Middle East the genus Hydrochus is generally less speciose than in the West Mediterranean.

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