Vulnerability assessment of coastal areas at the Gulf of Aqaba ; Jordan

Abstract EN

The Gulf of Aqaba is considered the only maritime région in Jordan and is located at the most south western parts of the Hashemite Kingdome of Jordan in the vicinity of Aqaba.

The Gulf of Aqaba is separated from the Red Sea by the edges of the Strait of Tiran, which is a narrow opening about 250-300m deep.

The coastline of the Gulf of Aqaba extends for 27 kilometers along a narrow and very deep arm of the Red Sea with an average width of 20 kilometers and reaches a maximum of 26 kilometers.

The average depth is about 800 meters, with depths exceeding 1,850 meters in its deepest areas.

Despite the relatively small size as a body of water, the Gulf of Aqaba is host to an extraordinarily diverse marine system.

The calm and clear waters provide a suitable environment for the growth of corals, and favorable salin-ity levels provide a suitable environment for countless varieties of marine-life forms.

More than 50% of the Gulf s shoreüne is covered by an ancient coral reef where more than 151 scleractinian (stony-reef-building coral spe-cies) and 120 species of soft coral were recorded; some of them, such as the red and black corals, are globally endangered.

In addition, the Jordanian coastline is distinguished by extensive fringing reefs, which are considered one of the most dynamic and diverse of ail natural ecosystems.

The Gulf of Aqaba has certain différences in its physical and chemical char-acteristics, which make the northem end différent from the southem and even the eastem side from its western side.

These différences are caused mainly by several factors such as tides, currents, temperature, salinity and transparency leading to changes in coral reef communities.

In général, the water temperature