Geography of Yemen

Geography of Yemen

Continent	Asia
Region	Middle East
Coordinates	15°N 48°E / 15°N 48°E / 15; 48
Area	Ranked 49th
• Total	555,000 km2 (214,000 sq mi)
Coastline	1,906 km (1,184 mi)
Borders	1,746 km (1,085 mi) Oman: 288 km (179 mi) Saudi Arabia: 1,458 km (906 mi)
Highest point	Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb 3,667 m (12,031 ft)
Lowest point	Arabian Sea 0 m (0 ft)
Natural resources	Oil, natural gas, rock salt, marble
Exclusive economic zone	552,669 km2 (213,387 sq mi)

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 555,000 square kilometres (214,000 sq mi), including the islands of Perim at the southern end of the Red Sea and Socotra at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden.^[1] Yemen's land boundaries total 1,746 kilometres (1,085 mi). Yemen borders Saudi Arabia to the north (1,458 km or 906 mi) and Oman to the northeast (288 km or 179 mi).^[2] Through the Socotra island, Yemen also shares borders with the Guardafui Channel and the Somali Sea.^[3]

Yemen occupies the southern end of the Arabian Plate.^[5]

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-kilometre (260 mi) 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.^[2]

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 (86 °F) in the day to 0 °C (32 °F) 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.

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 metres (6,600 ft). 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 (12,028 ft) above sea level, within the Harazi subrange of the Sarawat.^[6][7] The range of elevation is thus from sea level to 3,666 metres (12,028 ft), and among the countries in the Arab world, it is the one with the second highest high point, after Morocco's 4,167 metres (13,671 ft) 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 (9,800 ft). The mountains can be separated into a western and central highland. The western highlands have peaks reaching around 3,000 metres (1.9 miles), with relatively fertile soil and sufficient and plentiful rainfall. The central highlands is more like a plateau of about 2,000–3,200 metres (1.2–2.0 miles), 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.

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 (69.8 °F) and a cool, moderately dry winter with temperatures occasionally dipping below 0 °C (32.0 °F). The climate of the Tihamah (western coastal plain) is tropical; temperatures occasionally exceed 54 °C (129.2 °F), and the humidity ranges from 50 to 70 percent. Rainfall, which comes in irregular heavy torrents, averages 130 millimetres (5.12 in) annually. In Aden the average temperature is 25 °C (77.0 °F) in January and 32 °C (89.6 °F) in June, but with highs often exceeding 37 °C (98.6 °F). Average annual rainfall is 127 millimetres (5 in). The highest mountainous areas of southern Yemen receive from 520 to 760 mm (20.5 to 29.9 in) of rain a year. Some areas of the western highlands, most notably Ibb and Ta'izz, receive from about 1,000–1,500 millimetres (39.4–59.1 in) of rain each year. The capital, Sana'a, receives around 300 mm (11.8 in) 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.

Yemen has 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) of coastline along the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Red Sea. Yemen claims a territorial sea of 12 nautical miles (13.8 mi; 22.2 km), a contiguous zone of 24 nautical miles (27.6 mi; 44.4 km), an Exclusive Economic Zone of 552,669 km² (213,387 sq mi) based on 200 nautical miles (230.2 mi; 370.4 km). It has a continental shelf of 200 nautical miles (230.2 mi; 370.4 km) or to the edge of the continental margin.^[2]

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.^[2]

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 6,801 square kilometres (2,626 sq mi) of the land is irrigated. According to the United Nations, Yemen has 19,550 square kilometres (7,550 sq mi) of forest and other wooded land, which constitutes almost 4 percent of total land area.^[2]

イエメンは砂嵐や砂塵嵐に見舞われ、土壌浸食や農作物被害を引き起こしている。同国は天然の淡水が非常に限られており、その結果飲料水の供給が不十分となっている。砂漠化（乾燥による土地の劣化）や過放牧も問題となっている。^[2]イエメンは、生物多様性、気候変動、砂漠化、絶滅危惧種、環境改変、有害廃棄物、海洋法、オゾン層保護に関する国際協定の締約国である。^[13]

サウジアラビアとイエメンの長年の紛争は、2000年6月にジェッダ条約に調印して解決した。この協定は、イエメン東部砂漠地帯の潜在的に大量の石油が埋蔵されている地域を含む、陸上および海上の国境を画定するための座標を提供する。近年の両国間の国境警備をめぐる摩擦は、共同国境警備隊の設置によって緩和されたようだ。イエメンとエリトリアの間では、ハニッシュ諸島の所有権と紅海の漁業権をめぐって何年も紛争が続いていたが、1999年に国際仲裁委員会は、島々の領有権をイエメンに与えた。しかし、両国の関係は依然として緊張しており、イエメンは紛争地域でのエリトリアの漁業に抗議し続けている。^[2]

• アラビア半島の山々
  • ハドラマウト山脈
  • イエメンの火山一覧