<P> The name "Absheron" comes from Persian āb šur (salty water) and the Persian suffix - ān, which means the place . This also gave its name to the city of Apsheronsk in Russia . </P> <P> According to Conrad Malte - Brun in 1810, an alternative name for the peninsula was Okoressa . </P> <P> The Absheron Peninsula is nearly the metropolitan area of Baku because the Baku metropolitan area consists of Baku city, Sumgayit and Khyrdalan whereas the Absheron Peninsula consists of Baku city, Sumgayit and Absheron rayon whose center is Khyrdalan . </P> <P> The Absheron Peninsula has a temperate semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSk) with warm and dry summers, cool and occasionally wet winters, and strong winds all year long . The peninsula is the most arid part of Azerbaijan (precipitation here is around or less than 200 mm (8 in) a year). The majority of the light annual precipitation occurs in seasons other than summer, but none of these seasons are particularly wet . The natural vegetation of the Absheron Peninsula is dry steppe and semi-desert . Due to the semi-arid climate, local agriculture requires irrigation . </P>

How do scientists describe the apsheron peninsula of azerbaijan and why