Geography of Yemen

Yemen is located in West Asia, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, between Oman and Saudi Arabia. It is situated at the entrance to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which links the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean (via the Gulf of Aden) and is one of the most active and strategic shipping lanes in the world. Yemen has an area of 555000 km2, including the islands of Perim at the southern end of the Red Sea and Socotra at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden. Yemen's land boundaries total 1746 km. Yemen borders Saudi Arabia to the north (1458 km) and Oman to the northeast (288 km). Through the Socotra island, Yemen also shares borders with the Guardafui Channel and the Somali Sea.

Topography


Yemen occupies the southern end of the Arabian Plate.

The country's mountainous interior is surrounded by narrow coastal plains to the west, south, and east and by upland desert to the north along the border with Saudi Arabia. The Tihamah is a nearly 419 km long, semidesert coastal plain that runs along the Red Sea and is part of the Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert ecoregion. The highland regions are interspersed with wadis, or river valleys, that are dry in the winter months (Yemen has no permanent rivers.) Most notable is the Wadi Hadhramaut in eastern Yemen, the upper portions of which contain alluvial soil and floodwaters and the lower portion of which is barren and largely uninhabited. Both the eastern plateau region and the desert in the north are hot and dry with little vegetation.

In the northeastern Empty Quarter, sands highlight the region, being the largest expanse of sand in the world. It receives little to no rain for extensive periods of time. Little vegetation grows here either. The central highlands are drier than the western highlands because of rain-shadow influences, but still receives sufficient rain in wet years for extensive cropping. Its diurnal temperature variations are among the highest in the world: ranges from 30 °C in the day to 0 °C at night are normal. Water storage allows for irrigation and the growing of wheat and barley while the western highlands are famous for sorghum, coffee, and some tropical fruits like bananas and mangos.

Elevation
Yemen is a continuously elevated country, with only the coastal plains being the lowest-lying areas. Jagged peaks and plateaus cover most of Yemen, and the average elevation in the country is about 2,000 m. The interior mountains have elevations ranging from a few hundred meters to the highest point in the country and the Arabian Peninsula, Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb, which is 3,666 m above sea level, within the Harazi subrange of the Sarawat. The range of elevation is thus from sea level to 3666 m, and among the countries in the Arab world, it is the one with the second highest high point, after Morocco's 4,167 m high Jbel Toubkal. The Yemenis used the elevation of their homeland to stay isolated for thousands of years with foreign trade conducted only when the Yemenis wished to go to the coastal areas. The mountains are young, jagged peaks that are known to rise from an elevation of a few hundred meters to well over 3,000 m. The mountains can be separated into a western and central highland. The western highlands have peaks reaching around 3,000 m, with relatively fertile soil and sufficient and plentiful rainfall. The central highlands is more like a plateau of about 2,000 –, with rolling hills, small knolls, and some very prominent peaks, but is still relatively more elevated. Less rainfall can be seen in this region, but the summer months give enough to sustain crops.

Climate
Temperatures are lower in most of Yemen than in most of the Arab world due to most of the country being at high elevation. Rainfall is higher at higher elevations. The highlands enjoy a temperate, rainy summer with an average high temperature of 21 °C and a cool, moderately dry winter with temperatures occasionally dipping below 0 °C. The climate of the Tihamah (western coastal plain) is tropical; temperatures occasionally exceed 54 °C, and the humidity ranges from 50 to 70 percent. Rainfall, which comes in irregular heavy torrents, averages 130 mm annually. In Aden the average temperature is 25 °C in January and 32 °C in June, but with highs often exceeding 37 °C. Average annual rainfall is 127 mm. The highest mountainous areas of southern Yemen receive from 520 to 760 mm of rain a year. Some areas of the western highlands, most notably Ibb and Ta'izz, receive from about 1000 – of rain each year. The capital, Sana'a, receives around 300 mm a year, it is not uncommon for the northern and eastern sections of the country to receive no rain for five years or more. The Wadi Hadhramaut in the eastern part of Yemen is arid and hot, and the humidity ranges from 35 percent in June to 64 percent in January. Yemen has the most fertile land in the Arabian peninsula.

Coastline and maritime claims
Yemen has 2400 km of coastline along the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Red Sea. Yemen claims a territorial sea of 12 nmi, a contiguous zone of 24 nmi, an Exclusive Economic Zone of 552,669 km2 based on 200 nmi. It has a continental shelf of 200 nmi or to the edge of the continental margin.

Natural resources
Yemen's principal natural resources are oil and natural gas as well as agriculturally productive land in the west. Other natural resources include fish and seafood, rock salt, marble, and major unexplored deposits of coal, gold, lead, nickel, and copper.

Land use
Only 2.91 percent of Yemen is considered to be arable land, and less than 0.6 percent of the land is planted with permanent crops. About 6801 km2 of the land is irrigated. According to the United Nations, Yemen has 19550 km2 of forest and other wooded land, which constitutes almost 4 percent of total land area.

Environmental factors
Yemen is subject to sandstorms and dust storms, resulting in soil erosion and crop damage. The country has very limited natural freshwater and consequently inadequate supplies of potable water. Desertification (land degradation caused by aridity) and overgrazing are also problems. It is a party to international Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, and Ozone Layer Protection agreements.

Disputed territory
A long-standing dispute between Saudi Arabia and Yemen was resolved in June 2000 with the signing of the Treaty of Jeddah. This agreement provides coordinates for use in delineating the land and maritime border, including the section in the eastern desert region of Yemen that potentially contains significant amounts of oil. Friction between the two countries in recent years over security of the borders appears to have been alleviated by the establishment of joint border patrols. Following years of dispute between Yemen and Eritrea over ownership of the Hanish Islands and fishing rights in the Red Sea, in 1999 an international arbitration panel awarded sovereignty of the islands to Yemen. Relations between the two countries remain strained, however, and Yemen continues to protest Eritrean fishing in the disputed territory.