The Dead Sea is over a thousand feet below sea level, and shrinking. It is too salty to support life and has minimal effect on the surrounding arid area’s local climate, and It is going to continue to shrink due to the diversion of it’s freshwater supplies.
Why not fill it with water from the Mediterranean Sea? It would rise to at least ten times it present size, be able to support marine life, and have a major positive effect on the area’s climate. Is there anything wrong with this proposal as far as it’s implementation? (Let’s leave out the human cost for now).
Ah yes, let’s ignore the biggest question that might come up. That’s sure to make for a productive discussion.
In any case, apparently the Jordanians are thinking of refilling the dead sea, but they are planning to use water from the Red Sea, not the Mediterranean.
It’s a small hump up from the Red Sea, since the rift that created the Dead Sea runs as a valley to Aqaba. he mountains that separate it from the Med are quite high - expensive tunneling or pumping.
For now, it will be a “Red Queen’s Race”, running as fast as they can to stay in the same place. Thanks to draw-downs for irrigation on the Jordan, the Dead is actually dropping in sea level several feet a year. Any replenishment might just slow that a bit.
Of course, oddly enough international politics are an issue too.
Yellow Back, in the OP I just want to find out the feasibility and potential ecological benefits of this idea, that’s the only reason I wrote about ignore the human cost. If my name were Mao or Stalin. then I could see your concern.
Good ideas with well intentioned goals still tend to have unexpected consequences.
We are talking about moving a large amount of water in order to benefit a localized ecosystem, that water will be removed at the expense of the source ecosystem. And the flow of water will need to be maintained over time.
What will be the changes in the microclimates of both areas? Good for every one? Probably not. You may put the Mediterranean at risk and destroy the Dead Sea too.
I don’t think that we are anywhere near being able to terra-form even small sections of the Earth with confidence.
Actually there IS life in the Dead Sea, primarily bacteria and archea with a dash of hardy algae during flood times.
If you just added sufficient water to refill the basin to its historical levels and didn’t keep diluting further the effect would probably be positive on the local environment. The effect on the water source’s environment, however, may not be benign.
I wouldn’t recommend altering the Dead Sea further than that, in others, I wouldn’t suggest adding sufficient water to turn it into a more conventional lake. That would likely have all sorts of unpredicted effects which might not be happy results.
The Mediterranean has about 30.000 times the volume of the Dead Sea; and it’s connected to the Atlantic. If you don’t draw your water at monstrous rates from the most sensitive spot at the shore, my guess would be the Med will be fine.
What’s the biggest cause of the loss of water to begin with? I assume it’s evaporation.
So we’re pumping in salt water but evaporation only removes fresh water. Wouldn’t there be a constant increase in salinity?
It’s not at all a new idea…the first time it was mentioned was in 1855
And a decade or two ago, there was serious discussion by the highest levels of government in Israel, and also in the UN.
But don’t expect it to happen within your lifetime.
Google “med-dead canal”.
There is a somewhat similar precedent in the accidental creation of the Salton Sea, although that was fresh water. Given that the only water continuing to sustain it is farm runoff, it’s pretty much a stinking mess these days.
Also, the last time I checked, the Red Sea is connected to the Indian Ocean. It would be fine as well.
No. water from the Mediterranean or Red sea is considerably less saline than the Dead Sea is now, or even how saline it used to be before it began shrinking and getting saltier.
Historically, the Dead Sea was fed with water from the Jordan river. Although that was “fresh” water, it was, i n fact, the source of most of the salt as well as of the water. Once it reached the Dead Sea, the salt became concentrated due to the evaporation of the water. Much the same would presumably occur if seawater were brought in at a suitable rate. The Dead Sea would get progressively less salty as its size was increased by incoming seawater. Probably it is true, on this scenario, that when it reached its full former size, it would still be saltier than it used to be, but that would still be considerably less salty than it is now.
The whole reason that the Dead Sea is in trouble is because so much fresh water is now taken from the Jordan river, for agriculture and other human use, that almost none of it now reaches the Dead Sea, so evaporation now removes water faster than it is replenished.
as long as water evaporates from the Dead Sea it will get saltier.
I wonder how much electricity you could generate by doing this.
Also, having more water evaporate would probably be a good thing for the local (micro) climate.
Is it true that the extra air you get because of the position below sea level protects against sunburn?
Actually, not by much. IIRC, the sea is pretty much at saturation level now, there are huge salt deposits growing on the shorelines. But yes, all that salt has to go somewhere.
If you look on Google Earth, the south end of the Dead Sea contains large evaporation ponds for collecting the salt and other minerals commercially on both sides of the border.
Not while you are increasing its volume by putting new, less salty water in, no. And that is precisely what is being envisaged. If you then maintain it at a constant volume (presumably at around what it used to be when the Jordan was still flowing freely), then yes, it will get saltier until it reaches saturation point (again).
Apparently: http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=86165
Okay, from the replies and links provided, it appears that such a project is feasible and even desirable. One of the links mentioned the sinkholes that are forming around the lake due to groundwater not being replenished. Other links discussed the hydroelectric power that could be produced. It also appears that excess salinity will not be a problem, at least one that cannot be mitigated.
I see nothing about the effect on the local climate. Would the increased humidity affect the surrounding arid region? Would the resulting sea be large enough to produce thunderstorms on hot afternoons? Fog banks on cool nights? Rainbows?
Don’t forget it would reduce the land area of Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. Someone’s going to get upset at that, I bet.
The problem is not for the entire Red or Mediterranean sea, it’s for the local area where the water is being drawn from. It’s not as simple as “there’s a lot of water there, taking some from a random point won’t affect the whole thing” it’s more like “how will sucking a ton of water from one specific point affect the local area”.