Dhofar Region, Oman. Much of Oman is desert, but the Arabian Sea coast in the Dhofar region represents a startling difference in climate. This coastal region catches the monsoon rains, or khareef, during the summer months. Drenching rains fall primarily on the mountainous ridge that separates the lush, fertile areas along the coast from the arid interior, recharging streams, waterfalls and springs that provide plentiful water supplies in the fertile lowlands for the remainder of the year. Image taken by Landsat 5 on April 2, 2005. (Photo by USGS/NASA)

Palestinians hit injured Israeli settlers, center, detained by Palestinian villagers in a building under construction near the West Bank village of Qusra, southeast of the city of Nablus, Tuesday, January 7, 2014. Palestinians held more than a dozen Israeli settlers for about two hours Tuesday in retaliation for the latest in a string of settler attacks on villages in the area, witnesses said. The military said the chain of events apparently began after Israeli authorities removed an illegally built structure in Esh Kodesh, a rogue Israeli settlement in the area. In recent years, militant settlers have often responded to any attempts by the Israeli military to remove parts of dozens of rogue settlements, or outposts, by attacking Palestinians and their property. The tactic, begun in 2008, is known as “price tag”. (Photo by Nasser Ishtayeh/AP Photo)

Japanese Macaque monkeys soak in the warmth of mountain hotsprings at Jigokudani Monkey Park, in Yamanouchi, central Japan, 19 January 2014. The Japanese Macaques (Macaca fuscata), also referred to as Snow Monkeys, live freely in this area that is covered by snow one third of the year. Jigokudani is the only known place in the world where monkeys bathe in natural hot springs. As a habit, they come down from the mountains where they spend the night and bath during the day. (Photo by Kimimasa Mayama/EPA)

A long exposure image of embers flying off burnt out trees following the wind driven wildfire ranging in the mountain area near Rancho Cucamonga late 30 April 2014. Earlier in the day more than 1,500 homes were evacuated as the Etiwanda fire charred around 1,000 acres in San Barnardino National Forest. (Photo by Stuart Palley/EPA)

This combination of August 30, 2005 and July 29, 2015 aerial photos shows downtown New Orleans and the Superdome flooded by Hurricane Katrina and the same area a decade later. Katrina's powerful winds and driving rain bore down on Louisiana on August 29, 2005. The storm caused major damage to the Gulf Coast from Texas to central Florida while powering a storm surge that breached the system of levees that were built to protect New Orleans from flooding. (Photo by David J. Phillip/Gerald Herbert/AP Photo)

Ashley Ward kayaks down a flooded street that has been inundated with water from Hurricane Harvey on August 27, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Harvey, which made landfall north of Corpus Christi late Friday evening, is expected to dump upwards to 40 inches of rain in areas of Texas over the next couple of days. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A suspected Vietcong is kicked by a Vietnamese soldier holding a rifle as another soldier attempts to tie his hands on October 22, 1965. The prisoner was one of 15 captured October 21 near Xom Chua when government troops raided in the plain of reeds area. Troops killed 43 suspected Vietcong and seized some arms. (Photo by Richard Merron/AP Photo)

An elephant is used to demolish a house during an eviction drive inside Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Gauhati, Assam, India, Monday, November 27, 2017. Indian police on Monday took the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in the protected forest area in the country's remote northeast. Police used bulldozers and the elephants in a show of force, and the forest dwellers responded by hurling rocks. (Photo by Anupam Nath/AP Photo)