A large, elongated semi–enclosed sea of about 10,000 square kilometres area bounded by the Sinai Peninsula on the east and the Eastern Desert of Egypt on the west. It extends for 300 km and is about 50 km wide at its widest point. It has a flat bottom with an average depth of 50 m and slopes steeply at its mouth to the greater depths of the Red Sea. It connects with the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal and with the Red Sea via the Strait of Jubal. It is an arid basin with little fresh water inflow. Evaporation exceeds precipitation and runoff by over 2 m per year, a deficit that produces a surface inflow from the Red Sea and a longitudinal salinity gradient with the highest salinities near the head of the Gulf. Thus the Gulf is categorised as an inverse or negative estuarine system.