1 Introduction

The rise in global average surface air temperature, approximately 1 °C above pre-industrial levels, represents one of the most pressing concerns in contemporary climate science (Ntoumos et al. 2020). This observed change is largely ascribed to anthropogenic influences, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighting increased greenhouse gas concentrations as a primary driver in its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (Allen et al. 2018). Alongside these overarching trends, modifications in weather and climate extremes present additional layers of complexity. Studies spanning 1951–2003 indicate that over 70% of global land areas have seen a shift towards fewer cold nights and more frequent warm nights (Alexander et al. 2006). Additionally, on a seasonal scale, there’s an emerging consensus on the prevalence of warming across all seasons, with the colder months exhibiting pronounced alterations. Such trends in temperature extremes, coinciding with broader global warming patterns, have persisted across a 110-year timeline, with even stronger trends emerging in recent decades (Donat et al. 2013). Understanding these shifts is crucial for global strategies aiming to mitigate and adapt to these changing climatic conditions.

The climate of the Arabian/Persian Gulf (Fig. 1), referred to hereafter as the Gulf, exhibits a dynamic climate that varies over the course of the year. Spanning from the north to the south, the Gulf region displays a vast range of temperature variations, with daily averages spanning from 1 to 43 °C. Although the south-western area receives some rainfall, the predominant climate across the Gulf is arid with an annual rainfall 93mm (Almazroui et al. 2020). This region is notably home to the Rub Al-Khali (Empty Quarter), the world’s largest sand desert. An increase in temperature, especially if paired with reduced precipitation, holds the potential to severely affect the Gulf’s agriculture and water resources (Almazroui et al. 2012a).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Topographic map of the Gulf

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Shifts in climate patterns inevitably lead to alterations in extreme weather patterns, encompassing events like intense rainfall, heatwaves, cold spells, and extended periods of drought, with potential intensification of dust storms. The Gulf region is observing such climatic shifts, with indications that more humid areas might experience augmented rainfall, while the arid regions risk becoming even drier (Lindner 2007). An illustration of these extreme conditions was evident in July 2016 when Kuwait experienced a record temperature surge reaching 53.9 °C (Merlone et al. 2019). Moreover, instances of temperatures surpassing 52 °C are on the rise in Saudi Arabia (Almazroui et al. 2014). Furthermore, notable precipitation anomalies have been recorded, such as in November 2013 when Kuwait witnessed a unprecedented 29.2 cm of rainfall within a 24-h span (Al Senafi and Anis 2020). Similarly, areas like Jeddah in Saudi Arabia have observed extreme rainfall events, which resulted in loss of many lives (Almazroui 2012a). These incidents highlight the changing climate in the region and suggest that, should this trend persist, it may challenge human habitability (Pal and Eltahir 2016). Beyond the direct implications of extreme heat events (Alahmad et al. 2023a) and dust storms (Alahmad et al. 2023b) on human health in the Gulf, these severe conditions also adversely affect the region’s desert ecosystem (Hereher 2020). Furthermore, the Gulf harbors a distinctive marine ecosystem, home to several endangered species such as marine turtles, dugongs, and coral reefs (Al Senafi et al. 2020; Fawzi et al. 2022; Fieseler et al. 2023). This ecosystem is profoundly susceptible to the ramifications of climate change, emphasizing the critical need for its conservation (Ben-Hasan and Christensen 2019; D’Agostino et al. 2024).

In the context of a rapidly changing global climate, this study seeks to present an intricate assessment of air temperature extremes within the Gulf region over a four-decade span (1979–2019). Utilizing high-resolution hourly datasets from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), our analysis aims to delineate both the spatial and temporal facets of these temperature dynamics. Additionally, this research builds on and extends our previous study (as detailed in Al Senafi and Anis (2015)), by employing hourly data to analyze warming trends across diurnal and monthly cycles. To the best of our knowledge, this approach is unprecedented in the published literature in the N Gulf.

The paper is organized as follows: Sect. 2 provides a comprehensive overview of the datasets employed and the analytical techniques adopted. In Sect. 3, we conduct an extensive spatial and temporal analysis of the Gulf’s air temperatures. This includes a detailed examination of the warming trends in Sects. 3.1 and 3.2. In Sect. 3.3, we analyze the variability that exists independently of long-term trends, employing Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis for a deeper understanding of the region’s climate dynamics. Section 3 also offers discussions of the results and is followed by the conclusions in Sect. 4.

2 Methods

Our study utilized the WFDE5 dataset, a bias-corrected reconstruction of near-surface meteorological variables derived from the ECMWF’s fifth-generation atmospheric reanalyses (ERA5). The WFDE5 dataset has been shaped using the WATer and global CHange (WATCH) Forcing Data (WFD) methodology, synonymous with the approach employed for the renowned WATCH forcing data (Weedon et al. 2011). This ensures consistency and accuracy in the data representation. The WFDE5 data are re-gridded to a 0.5° resolution and undergo various adjustments. This includes elevation correction and monthly-scale bias corrections informed by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) data. In terms of evolution, the WFDE5 emerged as an advancement from the WFDEI dataset, which was crafted using the WFD methodology on ERA-Interim. Significantly, the WFDE5 offers an enhanced temporal resolution (hourly) compared to the WFDEI (3-hourly) and boasts superior spatial variability, credited to its origin from the high-resolution ERA5 (details see Cucchi et al. 2020). The dataset, encompassing data from January 1979 to December 2019, is available through the Copernicus Climate Change Service’s (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS) (Cucchi et al. 2022). It provides a range of variables such as air temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, precipitation, and winds. The reanalysis products from the ECMWF, namely the older ERA-Interim, as well as the more recent ERA5 and WFDE5, have gained widespread adoption and have been validated globally. For instance, they have been adapted for Central Europe and South Asia (Hassler and Lauer 2021), the Gulf (Al Senafi et al. 2019), and the Middle East region (Ntoumos et al. 2022). Our study is concentrated on the Gulf region, encompassing Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen.

A total of 359,400 images were retained and organized into an M × N matrix, where M represents the spatial elements and N denotes the temporal elements. We utilized this dataset to elucidate the spatial (\(x\)) and temporal (\(t\)) fluctuations in the Gulf’s air temperature. This analysis involved statistical measures, such as average, range, variance, trend, minimum, and maximum, alongside Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) decomposition. The EOF analysis serves to reconstruct a gridded time series, drawing from eigenmode maps of variability and their associated principal component (PC) time series. Within the framework of EOF analysis, the air temperature, which varies both temporally and spatially, can be represented as \(T\left( {x,t} \right)\). This is articulated through an orthogonal expansion of PCs as:

$$T\left( {x,t} \right) = \mathop \sum \limits_{n = 1}^{N} F_{n} \left( x \right)a_{n} \left( t \right) ,$$
(1)

here, \(F_{n} \left( x \right)\) denotes the spatial component or EOF, while \(a_{n} \left( t \right)\) embodies the time-varying function, otherwise known as the PC.

Before delving into the EOF analysis, we initially detrend the air temperature data to eliminate local linear trends. Subsequently, we deseasonalize the data by calculating the average temperature for each month at each pixel, covering the period from 1979 to 2019. This process aids in eliminating long-term trends, highlighting temporal variance:

$$T^{\prime}\left( {x,t} \right) = T\left( {x,t} \right) - \frac{1}{N}\mathop \sum \limits_{x = 1}^{N} T\left( {x,t} \right) ,$$
(2)

here, \(T^{\prime}\left( {x,t} \right)\) symbolizes the residual air temperature anomalies. Additionally, a spatial mean removal process is applied to further process the data for EOF analysis:

$$T^{\prime}\left( {x,t} \right) = T\left( {x,t} \right) - \frac{1}{M}\mathop \sum \limits_{x = 1}^{M} T\left( {x,t} \right) ,$$
(3)

Upon computing the primary air temperature modes based on their spatiotemporal traits, we examined their correlations with key climate drivers, such as North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). The study employed the Student’s t test to evaluate the statistical significance of these correlations, setting a p value (Pvalue) threshold of 0.05. Results that produced p values of 0.05 or lower were considered statistically significant. This type of analysis aligns with methodologies adopted in various studies examining unexplored modes of variability and their relationships with prominent global climate patterns (Fauchereau et al. 2003; Carleton 2003; Wu et al. 2020). We opted to exclude certain climate modes—specifically, Arctic Oscillation (AO) and Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO)—from in-depth exploration due to their insignificant (Pvalue > 0.05) correlations with the Gulf’s air temperature patterns. Moreover, our analysis of teleconnections incorporates the seasonal impact associated with each phenomenon. We analyzed the mean winter season specifically for the NAO, while the summer season was utilized to study the effects of both the ENSO and the AMO. This approach aligns with the methodologies employed in Al Senafi and Anis (2015), Almazroui (2020), and Alawad et al. (2023).

Relevant datasets for these climate modes were sourced from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Physical Sciences Laboratory website (https://www.psl.noaa.gov/data/climateindices).

3 Results and Discussion

3.1 Variability in Spatial Air Temperature

Climate variability in the Gulf region is complex as it is influenced by various meteorological and climatic factors that range from mesoscale (e.g. landsea breezes and Shamal wind events; Kamijani and Nahid 2019; Li et al. 2020) to globalscale (e.g. teleconnection patterns and monsoons; Kumar and Ouarda 2014; Giannakopoulou and Toumi 2012). These factors as well as the unique geographical features of the Gulf (Al Senafi and Anis 2015), result in substantial fluctuations in air temperature (Almazroui 2012b), humidity (Thoppil and Hogan 2010), precipitation (Almazroui et al. 2012b), wind patterns (Ghafarian et al. 2022), air-sea heat fluxes (Al Senafi et al. 2019) and sst (Al Senafi 2022) throughout the Gulf both spatially and temporally. Next we provide a detailed analysis of Gulf’s climate variability from 1979 to 2019, followed by a detailed analysis of the changes superposed by this variability on diurnal and seasonal cycles in the N Gulf.

The air temperature time series spanning from 1979 to 2019 reveals significant insights into the climate of the N Gulf. During this period, the N Gulf exhibited a spatially average temperature of 25.94 °C, warmer than the Gulf’s overall average of 23.07 °C (Fig. 2A). This heightened temperature in the N Gulf region, in comparison to the broader Gulf area, can be primarily attributed to the adiabatic ascent and descent of air masses passing over the Zagros Mountains in Northwest Iran from the east, as elucidated by Al Senafi and Anis (2015). These mountains serve as a substantial impediment to the moisture-laden air (Asakereh and Ashrafi 2023), facilitating the development of dry and scorching conditions, with maximum temperatures

Fig. 2
figure 2

A Air temperature average, B Air temperature maximum, C Air tem- perature range, D Air temperature minimum, E Air temperature trend, and F Air temperature variance. Air temperature time series was detrended and deseasoned prior to computing variance

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reaching as high as 53.84 °C observed from our analysis on the leeward side in July 2016 (Fig. 2B). This extreme temperature is consistent with the 53.9 °C recorded in Kuwait in July 2016, as reported by Merlone et al. (2019). This measurement stands as the highest temperature ever recorded in Asia and is 2 °C cooler than the global record set in July 1913 at Death Valley, USA. The N Gulf consistently exhibits warmer air temperatures compared to the rest of the Gulf, a distinction that becomes evident when analyzing the warmest ranked years, months, hours, and the frequency of hot (90th percentile) and extremely hot (99th percentile) days (Table 1). Notably, the top five warmest years and days consistently register higher temperatures in the N Gulf. Furthermore, the N Gulf experiences a greater number of hot and extremely hot days compared to the rest of the Gulf. In contrast to the scorching summer (Jun–Sep) conditions, winters (Dec–Mar) in the N Gulf are primarily influenced by the prevailing dry and cold northwesterly winds, locally known as Shamals (Li et al. 2020). This leads to colder winters in the N Gulf when compared to the remainder of the Gulf region (Fig. 2D). These notable temperature differences between summer and winter in the N Gulf contribute to substantial temperature fluctuations, exceeding 43 °C, which is higher from the ranges observed in the rest of the Gulf (Fig. 2C).

Table 1 Spatially averaged air temperature statistics for the Gulf (top table) and N Gulf (bottom table): Yearly, monthly, and daily temperature maxima, along with the frequency of hot (90th percentile) and extremely hot (99th percentile) days
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4 Temporal Variation in Air Temperature

A more detailed analysis of the Gulf region over the 41-year study period reveals a noticeable rise in Gulf temperatures, occurring at a rate ranging from 0.1 to 0.6 °C per decade, with the N Gulf experiencing the steepest warming trend (Fig. 2E). These temperature trends are notably faster when contrasted with the global warming rate of 0.16 °C per decade, as reported by Vose et al. (2021) for the period from 1960 to 2018. Furthermore, they are also faster than the findings of our prior study on the N Gulf conducted between 1973 and 2012, which identified a warming trend of 0.2 °C per decade. The disparity in warming rates between our current and previous study can be attributed to the inclusion of data from six exceptionally warm years, spanning from 2014 to 2019, which ranked among the top seven warmest years within the 41-year study period (Table 1). These years exhibited warmer temperatures ranging from 0.45 and 0.91 °C above the four-decade average as well as the highest frequency of hot and extremely hot days. This notable deviation can be clearly discerned in the warming anomaly patterns depicted in Figure 3, where values consistently exceed 0.6. The year 2010 stands out as the warmest in the dataset, surpassing the four-decade average by 1.26 °C. These findings align with data from NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (2023), which reported that the top ten warmest years globally all occurred between 2010 and 2019. Moreover, the frequency rankings of the top five hottest and most extreme days, as presented in this study (Table 1), surpass those reported by Nasrallah et al. (2004). Nasrallah et al. (2004) study was between 1953 and 2000 in the N Gulf and reported 61 hot days and 10 extremely hot days. This contrast in numbers serves as additional indication that the climate in the N Gulf is experiencing a warming trend. In a projection by Ntoumos et al. (2022), the Middle East region is anticipated to witness an escalation in extreme temperature days, reaching up to 180 by the year 2100. Within the Gulf specifically, this number is expected to surpass 90 days.

Fig. 3
figure 3

(Top) Time series of yearly averaged air temperature anomalies in the Gulf, 1982–2019; (Bottom) yearly averaged air temperature anomaly Gulf maps

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Further analysis of the seasonal cycle in the N Gulf unveils a consistent pattern, with daily average temperatures during the summer months reaching as high as 40 °C, while winter daily averages can drop as low as 9°C. Examining each month over the 41-year study period indicates that both summer and winter seasons are experiencing an accelerated increase in temperatures, up to 0.7 °C per decade. Notably, the relatively higher summer temperatures is increasing, leading to a shift in the occurrence of daily averages exceeding 34 °C. These high-temperature thresholds have shifted from early June to mid-May (a 22-day advancement) during early summer and from early September to late September (a 17-day delay) in late summer (Fig. 4). Likewise, in winter, the relatively higher winter temperatures have caused a shift in the occurrence of daily averages below 17 °C from early November to late November (a 17-day advancement) during early winter and from early March to early February (28-day delay) in late winter. This shift implies an increase in the duration of the summer season and a decrease in the duration of winter. Furthermore, it is important to consider the role of the Gulf Sea temperatures in regulating the N Gulf’s air temperatures, particularly during the winter and summer seasons. In contrast, the transitional seasons are predominantly influenced by less well-defined weather patterns and tropical storms, as detailed in Al Senafi and Anis (2015). Our previous study Al Senafi (2022) provided analysis of the Gulf’s seawater temperature dynamics and the air-sea net heat fluxes. It revealed that, on average, the Gulf waters absorb heat from the coastal regions throughout the year. This absorption results in a cooling effect (Bruciaferri et al. 2022) in these regions and a subsequent release of the absorbed heat into the central Gulf’s water body. However, there has been a noticeable change in this pattern recently. Since 2003, there has been consistent excess warming at the air-sea interface along the coastal regions, leading to a reduction in the sea’s heat absorption. These changes have likely contributed to the overall rise in the Gulf’s air temperatures, as less heat is being absorbed by the sea, thereby increasing air temperatures.

Fig. 4
figure 4

(Left) Monthly N Gulf air temperatures and their rate of change (red); (Right) Monthly changes in N Gulf air temperature (demeaned) relative to the average for the period between 1979 and 2019

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A closer examination of the diurnal cycle reveals an overarching trend of warming, with temperature increases ranging between 0.37 and 0.63 °C per decade across the hours. Notably, the warming rates are more pronounced from late evening to dawn, specifically between 23:00 and 7:00 (Fig. 5). Furthermore, the distribution of higher temperatures is expanding. For instance, temperatures around 25 °C have shifted earlier, moving from approximately 6:00 in the morning to 5:00, and they’ve also advanced from roughly 18:00 in the early evening to 19:00.

Fig. 5
figure 5

(Left) Hourly N Gulf air temperatures and their rate of change (red); (Right) Hourly changes in N Gulf air temperature (demeaned) relative to the average for the period between 1979 and 2019

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The analysis of standardized air temperature anomalies, as illustrated in Figure 3, reveals a distinct shift in temperature trends within our study period. Specifically, it shows that temperatures after 1997 were consistently warmer compared to the average for the entire period. This is indicated by the prevalence of positive anomalies in the data post-1997. In contrast, the years leading up to 1997 were characterized by consistently cooler conditions, as demonstrated by negative anomalies. This observation of a shift in temperature patterns is in line with our previous analysis of the Gulf’s sea surface temperatures over the same time frame (Al Senafi 2022).

5 Air Temperature Modes in the Gulf

The computation of the EOF analysis revealed that the first three modes collectively accounted for 82% of the variance observed in the air temperature anomalies. However, the subsequent EOF modes each contributed less than 4% to the total air temperature anomaly variances. These lower-ranked EOF modes were deemed unsuitable for further analysis, as they failed to meet the criteria established by North et al. (1982). According to North et al. (1982) criteria, the difference between the third and fourth eigenvalues should be proportional to their sampling error magnitude, implying that the error magnitude is comparable to the EOF modes themselves. In line with these criteria, the remaining EOF modes, which individually explained less than 4% of the total air temperature anomaly variances, were also excluded from subsequent analysis.

The EOF (spatial patterns) and PC (time series) for the first three modes are presented in Figures 6 and 7, respectively. The PC time series of the first mode, which corresponds to air temperatures, explains a substantial 55% of the total variance. It exhibits distinct positive anomalies (e.g., 1986, 2000, and 2010) and negative anomalies (e.g., 1983, 1990, and 2019) that significantly correlate (-0.75) with the NAO index during the winter season. This correlation suggests a connection between the observed winter temperature variations and the NAO index, which has been documented in previous studies. For instance, these findings align with our previous study Al Senafi and Anis (2015), which also highlighted the impact of the NAO on cooler conditions in the N Gulf during the positive phase of NAO. The latter study describes the connection between the Azores High and Icelandic Low influencing the shift of the jet stream and subsequently affecting upper-level circulation patterns. Consequently, these changes in the upper-level circulation patterns brings cooler conditions to the Mesopotamian region and the N Gulf. Furthermore, our observations align with the findings of Saeed et al. (2023), who also suggested the effects of upper-level circulation patterns extending to the Arabian Peninsula, resulting in colder winter temperatures. The strong mode 1 signatures in our study, with temperature anomalies exceeding 3 °C (Fig. 6, indicated by the green-to-orange shading indicating an increase in the northwestern direction and Fig. 8), reinforce the influence of the NAO on climate patterns in the N Gulf, consistent with previous research. The second EOF mode of air temperature accounted for 17.5% of the total variance, illustrating a notable longitudinal gradient decreasing from east to west as depicted in Figure 6B. The associated PC time series showed both positive peaks (e.g., 1982, 1992, and 2015) and negative peaks (e.g., 1985, 2002, and 2008), aligning consistently with the ENSO index. A significant correlation of 0.76 was observed, as shown in Figures 6B and 8 during the summer season. As expected, given the Gulf’s waters shallow characteristics with an average depth of 36 m, air temperature trends closely mirrored our previous study Al Senafi (2022) on the Gulf’s sst. The second mode of sst from that study exhibited a correlation of 0.62 with ENSO.

Fig. 6
figure 6

Gulf EOF of first three air temperature modes for the period 1979–2019

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Fig. 7
figure 7

Time series of PC associated with first three modes for the period 1979–2019 alongside (top) winter averaged NAO, (middle) summer averaged ENSO, and (bottom) summer averaged AMO indices shown in blue. Note: The NAO index in the top panel is inverted

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Fig. 8
figure 8

Scatter plot of the time series of the PC associated with first three modes for the period 1979–2019 versus (left) winter averaged NAO, (middle) summer averaged ENSO, and (right) summer averaged AMO indices

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Variability in summer air temperatures can be traced back to ENSO’s impact on various regional circulation patterns and large-scale atmospheric processes. Notably, the Siberian High has been implicated in changes to the moisture bearing westerlies. These shifts arise from the interplay between anomalies in the subtropical jet, influenced by tropical factors, and transient activities, as detailed by Barlow et al. (2016) and Rana et al. (2019). The latter study when examined zonal and meridional winds at 700 and 200 hPa over southwest Asia emphasized that positive westerly zonal wind anomalies are prevalent along the jet axis. However, the emergence of easterly winds between the jet streams, namely the northern subtropical jet stream and the southern tropical easterly jet, indicates a reduction in the strength of the westerlies. This observation aligns with the anticyclonic flow stemming from the westward expansion of the Siberian High over central Asia. Thus, the observed longitudinal alterations in the mean flow structure result in summer heatwaves and extended droughts during negative ENSO phases. Conversely, during positive ENSO phases, summer conditions tend to be cooler and wet. These findings are corroborated by our previous research in the N Gulf region as documented in Al Senafi and Anis (2015) and further supported by Barlow et al. (2016).

The third EOF mode represents 9% of the overall variance and highlights a latitudinal gradient that decreases from north to south, as shown in Figure 6C. The corresponding PC time series presents both positive peaks in years like 1988, 1999, and 2016, and negative ones in 1983, 1993, and 2019. These fluctuations align with the trends observed in the AMO index, exhibiting a significant correlation of 0.62 (Fig. 8). The effects of the AMO on the Gulf remain sparsely documented in current literature. To the best of our knowledge, the limited existing studies primarily focus on the AMO’s influence on sst (e.g Al Senafi 2022; Alawad et al. 2023) and air temperature Ehsan et al. (2020). Ehsan et al. (2020) noted the occurrence of warmer air temperatures during the AMO’s positive phases, a finding that is consistent with our observations. As described by Ehsan et al. (2020), a thermal low is prominently situated over the Gulf, with a high-pressure system occupying the upper atmospheric levels at 200 hPa. This dominant high-pressure system, combined with significant subsidence motion, leads to clear skies and intense solar radiation, resulting in hot summers throughout the region.

6 Conclusions

The climate variability of the Gulf region is complex, mixed with both mesoscale and globalscale meteorological and climatic influences. Over a span of 41 years (1979–2019), the Gulf’s intricate climate revealed significant temperature fluctuations, especially pronounced in the N Gulf. The N Gulf’s average temperature was 25.94 °C, exceeding the Gulf’s average by 3 °C. The period witnessed maximum temperatures reaching extreme heights, such as the 53.8 °C recorded in July 2016, closely aligned with the highest temperature ever recorded in Asia. Analyzing temperature trends reveals a consistent warming (0.1–0.6 °C per decade), particularly in the N Gulf, where temperature escalation outpaces global averages. Notably, the last six years of our study (2014–2019) experienced exceptionally warm temperatures, contributing significantly to the observed trends. The documented warming anomalies underscore this, with the year 1997 serving as a pivotal point of transition from cooler to warmer conditions.

Temporal analyses indicate seasonal shifts in the N Gulf. Summers are increasingly hotter, and winters warmer, contributing to pronounced temperature variations between seasons. The progression of these seasons is also changing. Summers, characterized by temperatures surpassing 34 °C, are starting earlier and lasting longer, whereas winters appear to be shortening. The analysis of air temperature modes further unravels the complexity of Gulf climate dynamics. The first three modes of EOF analysis cumulatively explain a significant 82% of the variance observed in the air temperature anomalies. These modes reveal influential external factors like the NAO, ENSO, and AMO. Each of these factors, in their unique capacity, affects the Gulf’s temperature patterns either through winter cooling effects, influencing summer conditions, or dictating broader temperature variances.

In summary, the presented findings highlight the profound climatic changes and trends the Gulf region, particularly the N Gulf, has been undergoing. It emphasizes the urgent need for comprehensive climate research, potential mitigation strategies, and adaptive measures in the face of a rapidly warming Gulf.