THE PARADOX OF THE WINTER NET MOISTURE SINK OVER THE ARABIAN-IRAQI DESERT

The net moisture sink found over the Arabi-an-Iraqi desert during winter is investigated. Since this region has only scarce rainfall, the excess of rainfall over evaporation as a possible explanation is ruled out. The probable scenario suggested here is that cloud condensation does indeed exceed evaporation, but is not expressed by corresponding rainfall. This is because the frequent medium/high level clouds developing there are generally advected out of that region and are therefore interpreted by the synoptic data analysis as a moisture sink.