Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert

The Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert on the southern coasts of the Arabian peninsula is an ecoregion which experiences thick fogs where visibility may be reduced to 33 feet (10 metres). It is classed as an Afrotropic fog desert

This ecosystem exists on a strip along the western and eastern coasts of Arabia. It follows the coast of Oman southward from Masirah Island and reaches inland to 120 km in the Jiddat al Harasisi plateau and the Dhofar mountains. From here it continues as a very narrow strip (only 5 km wide) along the coast of Yemen and up the 50 km wide the Tihamah plain along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. In Oman and Yemen moisture is provided by thick fogs coming off the ocean during the summer khareef monsoon, while the hot Tihamah plain is moisturised by some rainfall and the generally high humidity of the Red Sea.

In this region, although it rarely rains the fog provides moisture sufficient to nurture a great deal of grassland, shrubs and thick woodland. There are over sixty local species of plant. This coastal strip is of particular importance as further inland where the fog does not have an influence most of the Arabian Peninsula is desert. Vegetation varies progressively away from the coast which features dense woodland of Anogeissus dhofarica, Acacia senegal and various thorny Commiphora trees and shrubs. The richest flora can be found in the Dhofar mountains which have 900 plants including 60 endemic species and two endemic genera, Cibirhiza and Dhofaria. One of these plants, the Frankincense tree (Boswellia sacra) was a source of great wealth for Dhofar in antiquity. In Yemen the side of Jabal Urays facing the sea is covered with Euphorbia balsamifera shrubs.

...
Wikipedia