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The post‐ 1979 thermohaline structure of the Dead Sea and the role of double‐diffusive mixing
Author(s) -
Anati D. A.,
Stiller M.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1991.36.2.0342
Subject(s) - halocline , stratification (seeds) , thermohaline circulation , stage (stratigraphy) , dead sea , mixing (physics) , oceanography , geology , environmental science , advection , precipitation , climatology , atmospheric sciences , salinity , geography , paleontology , meteorology , biology , physics , thermodynamics , seed dormancy , botany , germination , quantum mechanics , dormancy
After centuries of meromixis (year‐ round stratification with a permanent halocline), the Dead Sea has passed through two distinct stages in the last decade: first a 4‐yr meromictic stage and then a holomictic stage. In the first stage, classic one‐dimensional processes dominated. In the second stage, three different regimes operated in a seasonal cycle: salt precipitation in spring and early summer, double‐diffusive mixing in late summer and autumn, and vertical mixing in winter. During the second (holomictic) stage the Dead Sea as a whole also underwent secular changes: a gradual change in the salt composition of its brines, an increase of salt concentration, and a gradual heating.