Evrim Yazgin
Cosmos science journalist
In the not very distant past, the Arabian Peninsula was likely a savannah, with wolves, lions and leopards.
That’s the conclusion from new research into ancient rainfall patterns in Arabia going back thousands of years, which reveals the region was much wetter than today.
The findings raise questions about the region’s preparedness amid growing urbanisation.
Today, Arabia is mostly covered in very arid desert. But the new palaeo-climate analysis, published in Science Advances, shows that the past 2,000 years were much wetter, and the region was once a vegetated savannah.
Animals like wolves, lions and leopards were once widespread.
Today, such creatures – as well as others like baboons, oryx and hyenas – are restricted to sanctuaries where freshwater is less scarce. The animals which dominate Arabia today are desert specialists like camels, snakes and small mammals.
Researchers studied Arabia’s ancient climate using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to extract sediment cores from deep-sea brine pools nearly 2km beneath the surface in the Gulf of Aqaba in the northern Red Sea.
Chemical signatures in the brine record ancient climate conditions such as CO2 levels and rainfall.
Sediments extended to 1,600 years ago – a period when the Roman empire ruled northern Arabia and the Levant.
The ancient, vegetated savannah of Arabia persisted until as recently as 200 years ago, when the rainfall was double what it is today.
Average rainfall across the Arabian Peninsula today ranges from about 40mm annually in the desert interior to 130mm in the coastal and mountain regions. Scientists generally agree that a defining feature of desert biomes is that they receive less than 250mm of rain a year.
The new research shows that there was a particular uptick in the amount of rainfall in Arabia during a period known as the “Little Ice Age”. This was a time of cooling which lasted from the early 14th century CE to the mid-19th century.
“This is a key record to fill in the history of Middle Eastern climate,” says co-author of the study, Amy Clement from the University of Miami in the US. “What it tells us is that the climate, both the average and the extremes, can change dramatically in this region, and the assumption of long-term climate stability in future development is not a good one.”
The Middle East is considered a climate hotspot. The region is experiencing increasing flash floods from torrential winter rains and harsh droughts. This is leading to rising humanitarian disasters in Arabia.
Scientists warn that massive infrastructure and arcology (architecture + ecology) projects, like the planned city NEOM launched in 2017, could present unforeseen challenges.
“As major development projects like NEOM in Saudi Arabia continue to reshape the landscape, these findings underscore the critical need for enhanced climate resilience and disaster preparedness to address the growing threat of extreme weather events in the region,” says lead author Sam Purkis, also at the University of Miami.
