Yemen

• Geography

Geography

Yemen is located in Middle East, bordering the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Red Sea, between Oman and Saudi Arabia .The Geographical coordinates are 15 00 N, 48 00 E. It has the total area of527,970 sq km including land area of 527,970 sq km and water of 0 sq km in which  Perim, Socotra, the former Yemen Arab Republic (YAR or North Yemen), and the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY or South Yemen) are also included. It is mainly a great plateau of ancient crystalline rock, largely covered with limestone and sandstone. The coastal mountains catch what little moisture is carried by the dry winds that cross Arabia, making the interior so arid (4 in./10 cm annual precipitation) that there is not a single perennial stream; thus, large areas lack water. The basin-shaped interior consists of alternating steppe and desert landscape; the Nafud desert in the north is connected with the great Rub al-Khali in the south (one of the world's largest sand deserts) by the Dahna, a narrow sand corridor. Border countries are Oman 288 km, Saudi Arabia 1,458 km .

Capital        Sanaa

Languages       Standard Arabic

Currency         Currency: Yemeni rial $1 = 198.13 Rials (YER)

Climate

The climate is mostly desert; hot and humid along west coast; temperate in western mountains affected by seasonal monsoon; extraordinarily hot, dry, harsh desert in east .

In Yemen, where high coastal mountains intercept the moist southwest monsoon winds during the summer. The northeast coast of Oman has a climate similar to that of Yemen, but in most of Arabia rainfall occurs only in winter. The coastal lands, however, are much more humid than the interior; fog and dew are common. Desalination plants supply much of the population's drinking needs. Osmosis distillation processes take brackish underground water and make it useful for agriculture and industry.