Probability distribution of seawater turbidity around Boubyan Island in Kuwait

The northwestern part of Arabian Gulf is characterized by turbid waters. A thorough study on the seawater turbidity around Boubyan and Failaka islands in Kuwait is needed since a mega port is under construction in Boubyan Island. The existing seawater intake structure of Sabiya power plant and the Failaka marina are also suffering with siltation issues. This area is also biologically very productive and turbidity is one of the main parameters controlling biological activity. Seawater turbidity is measured across five locations around the Boubyan Island for a year, viz. Boubyan port, Sabiya military area, Warba Island, Failaka Island, and Sabiya coast guard area. Probability distribution and statistical analysis were carried out for the five stations. The annual average measured turbidity in these locations were 404, 331, 412, 708, and 199 ppm, respectively. However, the maximum turbidity in a year has reached 43,098, 20,887, 58,008, 48,069, and 10,293 ppm, respectively. For the theoretical probability distribution analysis, four theoretical distributions were considered, namely Rayleigh, Exponential, Gumbel, and log-normal distribution. Based on the study, it was found that the log-normal distribution represented the measured seawater turbidity for these locations. Based on the 1-year field measurements, the turbidity value for 20% exceedance is 420, 340, 470, 310, and 170 ppm and the theoretical prediction based on log-normal distributions is 415, 360, 525, 800, and 155 ppm for these locations, respectively. The results of this study are important to understand the cohesive sediment transport and coastal morphodynamics around Boubyan Island, sedimentation of the ongoing mega Boubyan port and the approach channel under construction, sedimentation issues of power plants in Sabiya and the Failaka marina and the marine life growth in these areas, since turbidity dictates all these aspects.