Spatial and temporal variation of physicochemical parameters in northern Persian Gulf

Today, there are undesired changes in the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of water which impose a tremendous threat on aquatic species. Knowing the details of physical and chemical parameters and their behaviors such as temperature, salinity, density, dissolved oxygen, pH, electrical conductivity, turbidity, and chlorophyll-a for survivability of the aquatic ecosystem is essential. This paper discusses these parameters through a time series analysis of observation for the year 2007. The spatial and temporal variations of water chemical and physical parameters are investigated in nine stations in the northern part of the Persian Gulf. While many investigations have been carried out on the Persian Gulf, the innovation of this research is focusing on the northern part which is not or little discussed in the previous, historical studies, and barely data are available for this region. Analyses of the data in the study area show that the water is well mixed during the year due to the shallowness and tidal effects. Water is alkaline and tends to have a stable pH and relatively high salinity and temperature. pH is an important factor in determining the amount of toxic dissolved heavy metals in water. Turbidity and chlorophyll-a are low at the surface and increased toward the water bed as depth increases. The results of this paper are of the interest of the academic, business, and industrial communities and from a management point of view help the policymakers and environment managers to propose effective–strategic decisions that both help coastal communities and save aquatic life.