DEFINITION OF SINAI PENINSULA

Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula is a 23,554 square

mile (61,000 km2) triangular block of land, bounded on the

west by the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Suez and on the east

by the Araba Rift Valley and the Negev Desert of Israel. The

peninsula has three principal physiographic zones: extremely

rugged mountains in the southern Pre-Cambrian shield

province; a gently northward dipping, highly dissected tableland

in the interior; and a gently rolling region of sand dunes

in the north. Within these zones, minor subdivisions include a

broad coastal plain on the western margin of the southern

province, several tectonic depressions on the margins of and

within the central plateau area, and a zone of folded and

faulted Mesozoic and Tertiary sedimentary strata that forms

the northern margin of the interior.

The Sinai Peninsula lies in the east-central portion of the

Earth’s largest desert system, stretching from the northwest

coast of Africa to the eastern coast of the Arabian peninsula.

Over much of this area, precipitation is a rare and unpredictable

event and is accompanied by average annual potential

evapotranspiration rates greater than 30 times the

average precipitation. However, in the Sinai and nearby areas

of eastern Egypt, potential evapotranspiration can be as high

as 600 times the precipitation (in months where precipitation

occurs), and the ratio varies over three orders of magnitude

during the year. In the summer, temperatures may reach 45°,

and daily temperature excursions are up to 64.4°F (18°C).

The typical desert pattern of rainfall is marked by total annual

rainfall of less than 15.75 inches per year (400 mm/yr) and

large interannual variability. In the case of the Sinai, most of

the peninsula except for the extreme northeast corner receives

less than 2 inches (50 mm) of rainfall per year. This low

amount of rainfall classifies Sinai as an extreme desert, having

less than 2.75 inches (70 mm) of precipitation, and the

northeast as a semi-desert, characterized as receiving between

6 and 12 inches (150 and 350 mm) of precipitation. Humidity

in the Sinai is highest in El Arish and lowest in the stations

bordering the Gulf of Suez (El Tor, Abu Suwier, and Ras

Gemsa), as well as Fayid and Kabrit (Eastern Desert stations).

Humidity is generally higher in the late autumn at El Arish,

where it reaches 78 percent, and lowest in the spring (68 percent).

This variation is small, however, in comparison to the

annual fluctuation at Abu Suweir (Gulf of Suez region),

where relative humidity varies between 77 percent in January

and 19 percent in May.

Immediately northeast of the Sinai, the desert belt is

interrupted by the more temperate climate of the Fertile Crescent,

which includes parts of northern Israel, Lebanon, Syria,

and Iraq. Except for a slight moderation along the Mediterranean

coast, the aridity of the climate in the Sinai, together

with the ruggedness of the terrain, has restricted land use to

nomadic grazing and small-scale farming. No appreciable

moderation is given by the Gulf of Suez on the west, or the

Gulf of Aqaba on the east. A slight increase in precipitation

(and consequent groundwater recharge) becomes apparent in

the northern Negev Desert.

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