The coastal fog and ecological balance for plants in the Jizan region, Saudi Arabia

Aleksandar Valjarević; Salem Algarni; Cezar Morar; Vasile Grama; Marius Stupariu; Alexandru Tiba; Tin Lukić

doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2022.103494

The coastal fog and ecological balance for plants in the Jizan region, Saudi Arabia

Saudi J Biol Sci. 2023 Jan;30(1):103494. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2022.103494. Epub 2022 Nov 12.

Authors

Aleksandar Valjarević¹, Salem Algarni², Cezar Morar³, Vasile Grama³, Marius Stupariu³, Alexandru Tiba⁴, Tin Lukić⁵

Affiliations

¹ University of Belgrade, Faculty of Geography, Department of Geospatial and Environmental Science, Studentski Trg 3/III, Belgrade, Serbia.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Geography, Tourism and Territorial Planning, University of Oradea, 1 University Street, 410087 Oradea, Romania.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Oradea, 1 University Street, 410087 Oradea, Romania.
⁵ University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia.

Abstract

Fog water collection provides a sustainable resource for watering of crops. The Jizan region is one of the smallest states in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) but very rich with unique flora, fauna, landscape diversity, and occurrence of fog. According to satellite data from the period between (1991-2021) the average visibility in this fog belt varied between 5 m and 100 m. Specific relief properties, such as elevation contrast, present rare space for flora preservation and sustainable fog utilization and use in the watering of crops. Some results showed that number of foggy days is not equal and can be divided in three big cycles. It was estimated that 8 × 1013 L, or 80 m³ of fresh water from fog per year, could be used for drinking and partly for farming in Jizan region from settlements Al Araq and Al Gandla, city of Jizan, Al Madaya, Al Mubarakiyah, Muwassam. This amount of water varied through time. The last observational period had large amount of water, 10 × 1013 L or 100 m³. The main methodologies used in this research were advanced GIS (Geographical Information Systems), Remote Sensing (RS), and numerical analysis. Satellite data were downloaded from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Landsat 8 and 9 satellite missions. This kind of alternative water may produce stability for three main plants in Jizan region, palm, wheat and olive. Typical arid regions in KSA can be transformed by water used from the fog.

Keywords: Crops; Ecological balance; Fog water; GIS; Numerical methods; Watering.