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Qatar Qatar -- Geography
Qatar occupies 11,437 square kilometers on a peninsula
that
extends approximately 160 kilometers north into the
Persian Gulf
from the Arabian Peninsula. Varying in width between
fifty-five
and ninety kilometers, the land is mainly flat (the
highest point
is 103 meters) and rocky. Notable features include coastal
salt
pans, elevated limestone formations (the Dukhan anticline)
along
the west coast under which lies the Dukhan oil field, and
massive
sand dunes surrounding Khawr al Udayd, an inlet of the
gulf in
the southeast known to local English speakers as the
Inland Sea.
Of the islands belonging to Qatar, Halul is the most
important.
Lying about ninety kilometers east of Doha, it serves as a
storage area and loading terminal for oil from the
surrounding
offshore fields. Hawar and the adjacent islands
immediately off
the west coast are the subject of a territorial dispute
between
Qatar and Bahrain
(see Foreign Relations
, this ch.).
The capital, Doha, is located on the central east coast
on a
sweeping (if shallow) harbor. Other ports include Umm
Said, Al
Khawr, and Al Wakrah. Only Doha and Umm Said are capable
of
handling commercial shipping, although a large port and a
terminal for loading natural gas are planned at Ras
Laffan, north
of Al Khawr. Coral reefs and shallow coastal waters make
navigation difficult in areas where channels have not been
dredged.
Qatar shares its land border with the United Arab
Emirates
(UAE), with which in 1993 it continued to have a dispute
in the
Khawr al Udayd area. The boundary with Saudi Arabia was
settled
in 1965 but never demarcated. Qatar's northwest coast is
fewer
than thirty kilometers from Bahrain.
Doha is the capital of the country and the major
administrative, commercial, and population center. In 1993
it was
linked to other towns and development sites by a system of
about
1,000 kilometers of paved roads. Doha's international
airport has
an approximately 4,500-meter main runway, capable of
receiving
all kinds of aircraft.
The long summer (June through September) is
characterized by
intense heat and alternating dryness and humidity, with
temperatures exceeding 55° C. Temperatures are moderate
from
November through May, although winter temperatures may
fall to
17° C, which is relatively cool for the latitude. Rainfall
is
negligible, averaging 100 millimeters per year, confined
to the
winter months, and falling in brief, sometimes heavy
storms that
often flood the small ravines and the usually dry wadis.
Sudden,
violent dust storms occasionally descend on the peninsula,
blotting out the sun, causing wind damage, and momentarily
disrupting transport and other services.
The scarcity of rainfall and the limited underground
water,
most of which has such a high mineral content that it is
unsuitable for drinking or irrigation, restricted the
population
and the extent of agricultural and industrial development
the
country could support until desalination projects began.
Although
water continues to be provided from underground sources,
most is
obtained by desalination of seawater.
Data as of January 1993
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