The Persian Gulf

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz; MODIS team; NASA, Posted on: Wednesday, 5 December 2007, 07:08 CST Download full size image

The greenish Persian Gulf contrasts with the brown desert and mountains that surround it, in this image captured by the MODIS on the Aqua satellite on November 28, 2007. Seven countries sit on the Gulf (clockwise from top right): Iran, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, SaudiArabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Iraq. Part of Oman is on the tip of the peninsula reaching toward Iran. Oman also stretches to the southeast along the Gulf of Oman (bottom right corner).

The Persian Gulf features clouds of blue and green in its dark waters. These clouds likely indicate a mixture of sediment and microscopic marine plant life. At the top of The Gulf,where Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran meet, two rivers flow into the Gulf and add tan streaks to the water. These rivers are the Euphrates and the Tigris,the source of the Fertile Crescent valley and between which the ancient Mesopotamian civilization flourished.

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