New NASA images show impact of huge tropical storm on the Saudi Arabian part of the Rub' al-Khali

[Saif al-Arab]

Lakes in the desert? New Nasa images show impact of huge tropical storm on the Empty Quarter

The phenomenon, which last happened 20 years ago, took place after tropical cyclone Mekunu tore through the region in May

Gillian Duncan
June 17, 2018
Updated: June 17, 2018 06:02 PM

New images from Nasa show temporary lakes formed on the landscape of the Empty Quarter after it was hit by Tropical Cyclone Mekunu in May. Courtesy Nasa

Newly released images captured from space show the effect of tropical cyclone Mekunu on the Empty Quarter, after the storm dumped several years’ worth of rain on the desert and created temporary lakes between the sand dunes.

Tropical cyclone Mekunu tore through the region in May, dumping three times Oman’s annual rainfall – 278 millimetres – on the vast area in just 24 hours.

Now footage released by space agency Nasa has revealed the effects of the storm on what is usually one of the driest places on the planet.

“Mekunu dissipated as it tracked north-west over land, but still delivered plenty of water to the desert,” stated Nasa’s website.

“Notice where water collected in the lowlands between sand dunes. For comparison, the second image was acquired on May 13 and represents the typically dry appearance of the interdune sand flats.”

The Empty Quarter, also known as the Rub Al Khali, is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world and spans the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula, including the UAE.

The images were taken of the eastern part of the desert in Saudi Arabia, near the border with Oman.

It has been 20 years since rainwater last filled the flats, according to Nasa’s Earth Observatory website. It usually receives just three centimetres of rain each year.

The Landsat programme – the longest continuous space-based record of Earth's land – has also recently released pictures of Dubai that shows the breathtaking pace of the city’s development.

Part of a series released by the US space agency, the images show how quickly cities around the world have grown over the past 30 years.

Using images from its Landsat programme, the first picture shows Dubai in 1984, when it was home to 350,000 people and little more than a strip along the Arabian Gulf.

The second image, from last year, when the population had expanded to more than three million, shows the city creeping deep into the desert.

Many of its most recognisable landmarks are also visible on the coast, including Palm Jumerah, the World – and even upcoming developments such as Deira Islands.

https://www.thenational.ae/uae/lake...-tropical-storm-on-the-empty-quarter-1.740960

3 amazing Youtube videos showing the beauty of Rub' al-Khali

Empty Quarter - George Steinmetz

الربع الخالي فلم مثيروحقايق غريبه مختصر استكشاف جامعة القصيم

علامة الساعة التى اخبرنا بها النبي (ﷺ) ـ ظهور نهر في الجزيرة العربية: عود أرض العرب مروجا وأنهار

Earth from Space: Rub’ al Khali Desert

Rub Al-Khali Collection (Empty Quater)

http://www.pbase.com/digitalazia/rubkhali_l

RIVERS IN Rub Al Khali “The Empty Quarter”

https://ayaat.wordpress.com/2008/05/10/rivers-in-rub-al-khali-the-empty-quarter/

Informative article about the Rub' al Khali

http://www.sidetracked.com/edition-08/oman.php

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Difference (before and after satellite photo);





The situation not many millennia ago (one of the largest lakes and some of the longest rivers were located in Arabia) which explains why some of the oldest discovered civilizations and historical sites (advanced) have been found in Arabia and the nearby borderlands (back then non-existent as there are no geographic barriers) between Mesopotamia, Levant, Egypt (Sinai) etc.

One now understands why leading archaeologists believe that the Rub' al-Khali is hiding some of humanities most interesting stories from the ancient world.

Already the oldest traits of humans migrating into Arabia from Africa and from then on the remaining world have been found and studied in recent years and that with less territory studied than 0,01%.

Oldest human fossil from Saudi Arabia changes timeline for migration out of Africa

Doyle Rice USA TODAY
Published 6:53 p.m. UTC Apr 9, 2018

Ian Cartwright
The oldest homo sapiens fossil ever discovered in Saudi Arabia means the first human migration out of Africa was much more geographically widespread than originally thought, a new study suggests.

The fossil, an adult human's finger bone, dates back to 90,000 years ago, when the region's barren desert was green grassland.

Study lead author Huw Groucutt of the University of Oxford said the discovery for the first time conclusively shows that early humans lived in an expansive region in southwest Asia and weren't just restricted to the Levant, an area that includes modern-day Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

"The ability of these early people to widely colonize this region casts doubt on long-held views that early dispersals out of Africa were localized and unsuccessful,” Groucutt said.

The earliest homo sapiens fossils date to around 315,000 years ago from Africa. Previously discovered human fossils show an earlier human presence in Israel and possibly China.

More: Scientists discover oldest human fossil outside of Africa

The finger bone was discovered in 2016 at the site of Al Wusta, an ancient freshwater lake located in what is now the extremely arid Nefud Desert, about 340 miles southeast of the Sinai Peninsula.

Archaeologists previously thought humanity's movement out of Africa was in a single, rapid wave some 60,000 years ago, study co-author Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist from Germany's Max Planck Institute, said at a news briefing.

The finding instead suggests modern humans moved out of Africa multiple times during many windows of opportunity during the last 100,000 years or so, he said.

"This discovery of a fossil finger bone for me is like a dream come true because it supports arguments that our teams have been making for more than 10 years,” Petraglia said.

Michael Petraglia
The authors conclude from this early incursion into what was then a green Arabia that human movement out of Africa may have been helped by natural climate change in the form of increased precipitation.

As summer rainfall began to fall more frequently in Arabia, it allowed migrating humans to occupy not only the woodlands of the Levant — which were sustained by winter rainfall — but also such semi-arid grasslands in the Arabian interior as Al Wusta.

At that time, the region was "a fertile, lowland zone attractive to colonization by plants, animals and humans," noted Donald Henry, an anthropologist at the University of Tulsa, in an article that accompanied the study.

The authors suggest that adapting to this new environment would have been an early step on homo sapiens‘ path to global success.

The results were published Monday in Nature Ecology and Evolution, a peer-reviewed British journal.

Contributing: The Associated Press

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/...-saudi-arabia-discovered-migration/499222002/

Fascinating stuff to say the least.

@The SC @Gomig-21 @SALMAN F @Full Moon @Hamilcar @Mhmoud @Falcon29 etc.

 

[The SC]

It is like the moon of Saudi Arabia..Not fully discovered yet.. I bet there are a lot of surprises to be found in there..

 

[Saif al-Arab]

It is like the moon of Saudi Arabia..bot fully discovered yet.. I bet there are a lot of surprises to be found in there..

That's without a question. Already a lot has been discovered (to such an extent that the history of mankind has been rewritten) and that's just the tiny tip of a large huge iceberg the size of France, Belgium and the Netherlands put together. Exciting times ahead of us. People like Prof. Michael Petraglia and his team of local and non-local scientists are doing a tremendous job in KSA. They have been doing that for quite some time. All power to them and the current people in power that facilitated this project which at the height of the Sahwa movement would have been unthinkable. Luckily that short era is gone for good. Good riddance I say.

https://twitter.com/mdpetraglia?lang=ar

Speaking about this extremely remote, isolated and non-inhabited (at least permanently) part of KSA, this monumental and challenging project is ongoing which will connect KSA and Oman by road.

New Oman road to reduce Saudi Arabia trip by 800km
June 2, 2018 | 10:02 PM

by Times News

Termed as an ‘engineering marvel’, the project has been built through the Empty Quarter which is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world.
Shihab Al Shandodi

New #Oman road to reduce #Saudi Arabia trip by 800km

Muscat: Oman is working hard to open a road that passes through the world’s largest desert, according to the Implementation Support and Follow-Up Unit (ISFU) of Tanfeedh.

More than 130 million cubic metres of sand were removed as Oman gears up to open the 680km road to Saudi Arabia.

The quickest route between Oman and Saudi Arabia is currently 1,638 kilometres long, passing through the UAE and taking between 16 and 18 hours. The new road is expected to shave off more than 800km of the journey.

The opening of this road comes as part of 16 initiatives within the logistics services sector of ISFU.

“ISFU is working with all the stakeholders to speed up the opening of this road,” ISFU said in the Annual Report 2017, which was released last week.

Statistics in 2015 indicated that the annual volume of goods (imports and exports) traded across the Saudi-Omani border was 2.1 million tonnes. “It is estimated that the new road will contribute to good growth of trade activities between the two countries,” the organisation said. With regard to the progress made in opening this road, ISFU said that several attempts have been made by various stakeholders to open the highway, however they haven't come to fruition, leading to a delay in opening the road.

In Oman, the road begins from the area of Tanam in Ibri, continuing through the oilfields until it reaches the Empty Quarter, where the Oman-Saudi border is located. The project has been called an “engineering marvel” having been built through the sands of the Empty Quarter, which is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world.

The existing 52-km one-way road from Hafeet to Wadi Saa will be transformed into a dual carriageway.

Moreover, the design of the 45-km overpass road in Ibri has been completed and No-objection letters from the competent authorities have been obtained. “The Ministry of Transport and Communications completed the road design tender and awarded the tender to the consultant,” ISFU said.

“The opening of the road connecting the Sultanate to Saudi Arabia will contribute to the enhancement of social ties and economic activities between the two countries. It will also facilitate the flow of commercial and investment activities between the two countries and strengthen the Sultanate’s position as a regional trading centre,” said report said.

“Such roads are essential for the development of local trade, as they link villages to ports, as well as linking the GCC countries. Another important objective of this project is to provide direct contact between the two countries where there is currently no direct link between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate,” ISFU said.

“This project clearly shows nothing is impossible,” says long-time local resident Mohammed. “The Empty Quarter has stood for centuries between Oman and Saudi Arabia, and with this road project, the first-ever land link will be a reality between the two neighbouring countries.”

http://timesofoman.com/article/135631

https://twitter.com/x/status/1004399234702028802

leading line shot by SAUD سعود الرشيد, on Flickr