page_title: Bubiyan Island
hierarchical_section_title: Bubiyan Island
caption_attribution_description: English: This Envisat image features the Kuwait islands of Warbah and Bubiyan, located at the head of the Persian Gulf. What appears to be water across the top and right side of the image (lilac, green and blue) is land. The brighter yellow, aqua and pink colours represent water. Here, the water currents in these channels can be observed thanks to the radar imagery as they flow out into the gulf. The image was created by combining three Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) acquisitions (22 August 2009, 26 September 2009 and 31 October 2009) taken over the same area. The colours in the image result from variations in the surface that occurred between acquisitions.
context_page_description: Bubiyan Island is the largest island in the Kuwaiti coastal island chain situated in the north-western corner of the Persian Gulf, with an area of 863 km². The island is uninhabited.
  The island is mostly flat and low, salt marshes cover most of the coast. There are some intermittent wadis in the center of the island.
  It is separated from the Iraqi mainland in the northeast by the Al-Zubayr channel and from the Kuwaiti mainland in the southwest by the Al-Sabiyyah channel. The latter channel trends around the northern end of Bubiyan Island, separating it from Warbah Island. 5.4 km northwest of Ras al Barshah, the southernmost point, Bubiyan is linked to the mainland by a concrete girder bridge over the Khawr as Sabiyah channel, 2.38 km long, built in 1981-1983 and opened February 1983, which is for military use only.
  During the Gulf War of 1991, there was a big oil spill in the area; in addition to this, four spans of the bridge were destroyed; they have been rebuilt in 1999. The island itself was converted to a military base in 1991 and has served as one ever since.
context_section_description: Bubiyan Island (Arabic: جزيرة بوبيان‎) is the largest island in the Kuwaiti coastal island chain situated in the north-western corner of the Persian Gulf, with an area of 863 km² (333 sq mi). The island is uninhabited.
  The island is mostly flat and low, salt marshes cover most of the coast. There are some intermittent wadis in the center of the island.
  It is separated from the Iraqi mainland in the northeast by the Al-Zubayr channel and from the Kuwaiti mainland in the southwest by the Al-Sabiyyah channel. The latter channel trends around the northern end of Bubiyan Island, separating it from Warbah Island. 5.4 km (3 mi) northwest of Ras al Barshah, the southernmost point, Bubiyan is linked to the mainland by a concrete girder bridge over the Khawr as Sabiyah channel, 2.38 km (1.48 mi) long, built in 1981-1983 and opened February 1983, which is for military use only.
  During the Gulf War of 1991, there was a big oil spill in the area; in addition to this, four spans of the bridge were destroyed; they have been rebuilt in 1999. The island itself was converted to a military base in 1991 and has served as one ever since. In November 1994, Iraq formally accepted the UN-demarcated border with Kuwait which had been spelled out in Security Council Resolutions 687 (1991), 773 (1992), and 833 (1993) which formally ended an earlier claim to Bubiyan Island. The Iranian mainland is also very close to the island.
  In response to Kuwait becoming the 169th signatory of the Ramsar Convention, the Mubarak al-Kabeer reserve was designated as the country's first Wetland of International Importance. The 50,948 hectare reserve consists of small lagoons and shallow salt marshes and is important as a stop-over for migrating birds on two migration routes; Turkey to India and Eurasia to Africa. Breeding water-birds include the world's largest breeding colony of Crab-plover (Dromas ardeola), and the surrounding sea is major nursery for many commercial fish species.
caption: False-color satellite image of Kuwaiti islands at the northwest corner of the Persian Gulf. Bubiyan is the light-blue mass taking up most of the right side of the image.
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