Exploitation of conventional energy resources has caused a deliberate increase in the emitted carbon in the atmosphere, which catalyzes global warming trends. This is a matter of concern, especially in Qatar, where fossil fuels (oil and gas) are largely relied upon for power production. The dependency on such resources could be gradually reduced by utilizing clean and renewable energy. Resource characterization is an important step to evaluate the potentiality of available renewable energy sources. Wind energy is one among them, which has not been assessed reliably so far in Qatar. We analyzed the wind energy potential along the onshore and offshore areas of Qatar using 40 years (1979–2018) of hourly wind data extracted from the ECMWF Reanalysis v5 (ERA5) database. Monthly, seasonal, annual, and decadal mean wind power densities have been derived. Reliability tests have been carried out at select onshore and offshore locations. Trends and inter-annual variability have been assessed. The study reveals that the available wind resources are generally moderate but consistent with no intense trends during the 40 year period. An inter-annual variability in wind power has been identified, which has secured links with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

Heavy metal (HM) contamination in marine sediments is a critical environmental concern due to its potential ecological and human health impacts. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of the spatial and temporal evolution of HM contamination in Arabian Gulf sediments over a 33-year period (1991–2024). Contamination levels were evaluated using key sediment quality indices such as the contamination factor (CF), geoaccumulation index (I_gₑₒ), pollution load index (PLI), and ecological risk index (ERI) based on available meta-data. Spatial analysis revealed that marine sediments along the Iranian and Saudi Arabian coasts exhibited higher contamination levels compared to those of other Gulf countries. This elevated contamination is likely attributed to industrial discharges, oil spills and effluent releases from desalination plants. Arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) emerged as the primary toxic contributors to sediment pollution. Overall, HM contamination status in the region is predominantly low to moderate, with localized hotspots near industrialized coastal zones. The study highlights the need for scientifically informed waste management strategies to mitigate HM contamination, particularly in nearshore environments impacted by industrial activities. Furthermore, it recommends the implementation of continuous monitoring programs to track temporal trends and identify emerging contamination sources. These findings provide critical insights for environmental managers and policymakers in developing sustainable pollution mitigation frameworks and enhancing the resilience of marine ecosystems in the Arabian Gulf.

Although several indices have been constructed and available at the Index database (IDB) for Sentinel-2 satellite to map and study several earth resources, no indices have been developed to map oil spill. We constructed band ratios (5 + 6)/7, (3 + 4)/2, (11+12)/8 and 3/2, (3 + 4)/2, (6 + 7)/5 using the high-resolution MSI (multi-spectral instrument) visible-near infrared-shortwave infrared spectral bands of Sentinel-2 by summing-up the bands representing the shoulders of absorption features as numerator and the band located nearest to the absorption feature as denominator to discriminate oil spill, and demonstrate the potential of this method to map the Wakashio oil spill which occurred in the Indian Ocean, off Mauritius. The resulted images discriminated the oil spill well. We also decorrelated the spectral bands 4, 3 and 2 by studying the spectral band absorptions and discriminated the spill as very thick, thick and thin. The results of decorrelation stretch method exhibited the distribution of types of oil spill in a different tone, distinctly. Both the image transformation methods (band ratios and decorrelation stretch methods) showed their capability to map oil spills, and these methods are recommended to use for similar spectral bands of other sensors to map oil spills. • This study demonstrated the application of band ratios and decorrelation stretch methods to map oil spill. • The methods discriminated the oil spill off Mauritius, and showed spill thicknesses from the Sentinel-2 data. • The new methods are recommended to use for the spectral bands of other sensors to map oil spill.