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conferenceseries.com
Volume 2 Environment Pollution and Climate Change
ISSN: 2573-458X Climate Change 2018 &
Global ENVITOX 2018
October 04-06, 2018
October 04-06, 2018
London, UK
16th Annual Meeting on
Environmental Toxicology and Biological Systems
&
5th World Conference on Climate Change
JOINT EVENT
Steady shrinking of the Dead Sea as a result of climate change in the Eastern Mediterranean
Pavel Kishcha
Tel Aviv University, Israel
Statement of the Problem: The coastal area of the hypersaline terminal lake of the Dead Sea is a unique area of dry land of
the lowest elevation on Earth (-420 m a.s.l.). The Dead Sea has been drying up over the last four decades: the water level has
dropped at the rate of approximately 1 m year. The Dead Sea drying up is due to climate change in the Eastern Mediterranean,
which is expressed by the lack of water inflow from the Jordan river, a decreasing tendency in rainfall over the last 40 years and
increasing evaporation. Climate change in the Eastern Mediterranean is accompanied by a positive feedback loop between the
shrinking of the Dead Sea and the increasing trend in Dead Sea surface temperature (SST) of 0.6°C per decade. This causes
increasing evaporation and the continuing disappearance of the Dead Sea.
Methodology &Theoretical Orientation: To estimate the effect of climate change in the Eastern Mediterranean on the Dead
Sea, we analyzed yearly data of Dead Sea water levels based on available measurements from 1992 until the present. Several
factors could influence the observed Dead Sea water level drop, such as long-term changes in evaporation, in SST, in solar
radiation and in near-surface wind. To estimate long-term trends in SST, satellite MODIS data were used.
Conclusion & Significance: We found that there is a positive feedback loop between Dead Sea shrinking and increasing SST.
Additional heating of Dead Sea surface water (as a result of Dead Sea shrinking) is leading to an increase in water evaporation,
consequently, to some additional decrease in Dead Sea water levels, eventually to subsequent shrinking of the Dead Sea water
area. This positive feedback loop leads to acceleration in the Dead Sea water
level drop causing a continuing hazard to this hypersaline lake.
Recent Publications
1. Kishcha P, Pinker R, Gertman I, Starobinets B and Alpert P (2018)
Observations of positive sea surface temperature trends in the steadily
shrinking Dead Sea. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
Discussion 2018:1–15.
2. Kishcha P, Starobinets B, Gertman I, Ozer T and Alpert P (2017)
Observations of unexpected short-termheating in the uppermost layer
of the Dead Sea after a sharp decrease in solar radiation. International
Journal of Oceanography 2017:1–12.
3. Kishcha P, Starobinets B, Savir A, Alpert P andKaplanM(2017) Foehn-
induced effects on dust pollution, frontal clouds and solar radiation in the Dead Sea valley. Meteorology and Atmospheric
Physics 30(3):295–309.
4. Kishcha P, Rieger D, Metzger J, Starobinets B, et al. (2016) Modeling of a strong dust event in the complex terrain of the
Dead Sea valley during the passage of a gust front. Tellus B 68:29751.
5. Kottmeier C, Agnon A, Al-Halbounib D, Alpert P, Kishcha P, et al. (2016) New perspectives on interdisciplinary earth
science at the Dead Sea: the DESERVE project. Science of the Total Environment 544(2016):1045–1058.
Biography
Pavel Kishcha graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1979 with an MSc in Physics, and received PhD in Geophysics from the Institute of Terrestrial
Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation (IZMIRAN), Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, in 1985. Currently, he is a Senior Research Scientist
at the Porter School of Environment and Earth Sciences of Tel-Aviv University (TAU). His research interests include investigation of heating in the uppermost layer
of the Dead Sea and long-term trends in Dead Sea surface temperature based on satellite measurements; aerosol physics and aerosol numerical modeling in
the atmosphere; aerosol spatial distributions and trends based on satellite and ground-based aerosol measurements. He has been producing daily operational
numerical predictions of desert dust storms over the Sahara desert and adjacent regions since 2006. He is the Author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications.
Pavel Kishcha et al., Environ Pollut Climate Change 2018, Volume 2
DOI: 10.4172/2573-458X-C1-002