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 Doha International Airport, Qatar
Location: Middle East, peninsula bordering the Persian Gulf
and Saudi Arabia
Geographic coordinates: 25 30 N, 51 15 E
Map references: Middle East
Area:
total: 11,437 sq km
land: 11,437 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Connecticut
Land boundaries:
total: 60 km
border countries: Saudi Arabia 60 km
Coastline: 563 km
Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: as determined by bilateral agreements,
or the median line
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: desert; hot, dry; humid and sultry in summer
Terrain: mostly flat and barren desert covered with loose
sand and gravel
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m
highest point: Qurayn Abu al Bawl 103 m
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, fish
Land use:
arable land: 1%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 5%
forests and woodland: 0%
other: 94% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 80 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: haze, dust storms, sandstorms common
Environment - current issues: limited natural fresh water
resources are increasing dependence on large-scale desalination
facilities
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification,
Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea
Geography - note: strategic location in central Persian
Gulf near major petroleum deposits
Background: During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Qatari
economy was crippled by a continuous siphoning off of petroleum
revenues by the amir who had ruled the country since 1972. He was
overthrown in a bloodless coup by his own son in 1995. Oil and natural
gas revenues enable Qatar to have a per capita income not far below
the leading industrial countries of Western Europe.
Qatar
COUNTRY
Formal Name: State of Qatar.
Short Form: Qatar.
Term for Citizens: Qatari(s); adjectival form,
Qatari.
Capital: Doha.
Date of Independence: September 3, 1971.
GEOGRAPHY
Size: 11,437 square kilometers.
Topography: Mostly low-lying, barren terrain.
Climate: Long, hot summers with alternating periods
of high and low humidity; mild winters with limited rainfall.
Data as of January 1993
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 .
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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