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This work evaluates the current situation in the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The main areas of evaluation are the ongoing reforms, the proposed monetary union and the relationship with the United States. As for the reforms, the main focus is the transition from a closed to an open market economy and the mitigation of their oil dependence. Furthermore, the following chapter deals with an analysis of the Optimum Currency Area for the GCC region. Finally, the last chapter is aimed to provide a brief insight into the US-GCC relationship and its prospects in the near future.

The intensification of cyclonic winds in the Gulf of Alaska during winter belies the relatively constant geostrophic circulation as being indicative of actual flow. In the absence of direct current measurements, effects of various meteorological phenomena have been eliminated from monthly mean sea level measurements over the decade 1950 to 1959, and the resulting height anomalies equated to monthly mean Sverdrup transports. A linear relationship is obtained, except during summer when it permits an estimate of the increase in recorded sea level due to runoff. The data suggest that during summer the geostrophic transport is a good indication of general flow, but that during winter the distribution of mass does not adjust to the Sverdrup transport, and the resulting barotrophic flow is about one and one-half times the geostrophic flow during this period. Mean seasonal Sverdrup transport indicates maximum recirculation in the Gulf of Alaska gyre during winter, a reduced but equal recirculation during summer and fall, but none during spring. These results conflict with existing interpretations of flow in the Gulf of Alaska, and should form the basis for renewed oceanographic explorations in this region. / Graduation date: 1969

Hydrographic data and drogue observations were used to describe the circulation and water masses in the upper 500 meters of the region of the entrance to the Gulf of California in the early spring of 1970. The thermohaline structure of the water and the general circulation in the vicinity of the entrance to the Gulf of California indicated that four water masses were present. California Current water on the western side of the entrance, Subtropical Surface water in the middle part and Gulf water on the eastern side. Underlying these three waters, Subtropical Subsurface water was found from about 150 to 500 meters. The geostrophic calculations indicate that a broad region of outflow from the Gulf existed on the eastern side associated with a marked upward displacement of isopycnals towards the east. Speeds were near 30 cm/sec at the surface and decreased to less than 3 cm/sec at 300 meters. Outflow also occurred on the western side, near the Baja California coast, at lower speeds. Inflow to the Gulf was observed near the middle part of the entrance at speeds of 30 to 40 cm/sec at the surface, decreasing to less than 6 cm/sec at 300 meters. The drogue observations were in agreement with the general circulation pattern inferred from geostrophic currents. Drogue and geostrophic velocities showed agreement better than 70% at 10 and 50 meters. The decrease of geostrophic velocity with depth indicates that a baroclinic condition existed. Comparison of these velocities with the drogue measurements indicates that the baroclinic circulation was predominant in the upper 100 meters. In the upper 150 meters the low salinity water from the California Current was flowing into the Gulf. The high salinity Gulf water was found in the regions of outflow as to be expected to avoid accumulation of salt inside the Gulf by strong evaporation. / Graduation date: 1975

Using gravity, magnetic, bathymetric and seismic refraction data, I have constructed a geophysical cross-section of the central part of the northern Gulf of California. The section exhibits a crustal thickness of 18 km and features an anomalous block of high density lower basement (3.15 g/cm³) which probably resulted from rifting processes during the opening of the Gulf. The magnetization of the upper basement ranges from 0.0005 to 0.0030 emu/cm³. Three different layers of sediments are modeled, ranging from unconsolidated (1.85 g/cm³) to compacted (2.50 g/cm³). I present a deconvolution method for automated interpretation of magnetic profiles based on Werner's (1953) simplified thin-dike assumption, leading to the linearization of complex nonlinear magnetic problems. The method is expanded by the fact that the horizontal gradient of the total field caused by the edge of a thick interface body is equivalent to the total field of a thin dike. Statistical decision making and a seven point operator are used to insure good approximations of susceptibility, dip, depth, and horizontal location of the source. After using synthetic models to test the inversion method, I applied it to the Northern Gulf of California using data collected in 1984 by the Continental Margins Study Group at Oregon State University. Fault traces, computed by the deconvolution, are plotted on a map. The faulting pattern obtained is in good agreement with that proposed by other workers using other methods. The depths to the top of the faults range from 4 to 5 km in the eastern part of the Gulf, where they may be interpreted as the top of the structural basement. Deeper estimates are obtained for the western part of the Gulf. / Graduation date: 1990

The Persian Gulf is a shallow, semi-enclosed marginal sea where the Persian Gulf Water (PGW), one of the most saline water masses in the world, is formed due to the arid climate. The PGW flushes out of the Persian Gulf as a deep outflow and induces a surface inflow of the Indian Ocean Surface Water (IOSW), driving an inverse-estuarine type water exchange through the Strait of Hormuz. In this dissertation, the circulation and water mass transformation processes in the Persian Gulf and the water exchange with the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Hormuz, in response to the atmospheric forcing, are studied using the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM). The model is driven by surface wind stress, heat and fresh water fluxes derived from two sources: the COADS (Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set) monthly climatology and high frequency (2-hourly) MM5 (The Fifth-Generation NCAR/Penn State Mesoscale Model) output. This study is motivated by the time series measurements in the Strait during December 1996 to March 1998 by Johns et al. (2003), which also serve as a major benchmark for evaluating the model results. The simulations with climatological forcing show that the IOSW propagates in two branches into the Gulf, one along the Iranian coast toward the northern gulf and the other one onto the southern banks driven by the Ekman drift by the prevailing northwesterly winds. These two branches of inflow form two cyclonic gyres in the northern and in the southern gulf respectively. Cold, saline deep waters are formed both in the northern gulf and in the southern gulf during the wintertime cooling period and their exports contribute seasonally to the outflow in the strait. After formation in winter, the dense water in the shallow southwestern gulf spills off into the strait and causes high-salinity pulses in the outflow in the strait, a phenomenon also present in the observations. The export of dense waters from the northern gulf persists throughout the year, with the largest cold water export in summer. The intrusion of the IOSW in the model extends much farther into the Gulf in summer than in winter, which is in agreement with observations. By analyzing the salt balance in the basin and conducting sensitivity experiments, we show that it is the balance between the advection of IOSW and vertical upward flux induced by vertical mixing that mainly controls the seasonal variation of the surface salinity. The surface salinity in winter is increased by upward mixing from saltier subsurface waters, which is caused by the strong vertical mixing condition maintained by the surface heat loss. Surface wind stress, which opposes the inflow and is stronger in winter than in summer, plays a secondary role in modulating the seasonal intrusion of the IOSW. The MM5 high frequency forcing, capable of resolving synoptic weather events, leads to increased heat loss in winter, enhanced vertical mixing and higher annual mean evaporation rate. In the simulation with the high frequency forcing, the waters in the gulf are generally about 3 degree C colder and 1 psu fresher than with COADS forcing, and agree better with observations. The high-frequency forcing has little effect on the export of the dense waters from the northern gulf but delays the spillage of the waters from the southern gulf to April. A notable synoptic feature of the simulations is the annual appearance of eddies along the intruding salinity front. The typical sizes of the fully developed eddies in summer are about 100 km, about 3 times of the local Rossby deformation radius, consistent with a baroclinic instability process. The existence of these eddies is confirmed in satellite images of surface temperature in the Gulf.