Zirku Island is recorded in this encyclopedia from the source named below.
Overview
Zirku Island (Arabic: زركوه) is an island in the Persian Gulf about 87 miles (140 km) northwest of the city of Abu Dhabi and belongs to the United Arab Emirates. The island is 7.47 km2 (2.88 sq mi) in size and has a height of 161 meters (528 ft). Until 1978, Zirku was a refuge for cormorants and other birds until the Zakum Development Company began development for oil processing. Today there are oil refining facilities, a petroleum terminal and an airport on the island. More recently, ZADCO has commissioned studies to study biodiversity on the island. According to a report from August 2015, more than 1000 people live and work on the island. Zirku has no freshwater resources of its own and was therefore never naturally inhabited. Its beaches are known to support the most Hawksbill turtle nests of all the nesting beaches in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The weather in Zirku Island is typical of a desert climate with hot summers and mild winters. Key weather characteristics include: Summer temperatures: 35–45 °C (June–September). Winter temperatures: 15–25°C (December–February). Wind speed: Average 15–20 knots, with seasonal variations. Rainfall: Rare, mostly in winter months. Humidity levels: High, especially in summer.
Source and reuse
The descriptive text above is drawn from the English-language encyclopedia article Zirku Island, reused under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence and attributed in the sources block on this page. Figures in the infobox come from Wikidata and carry that project's own provenance; they should be checked against the cited source before being relied on.
Editorial note
This record is a sourced summary, not original research. Where the underlying material is silent on a point, this article is silent too. Last reviewed 2026-09-23.