Estimation of evaporation from the Dead Sea

• Published in: Hydrological processes Vol. 13; no. 17; pp. 2743 - 2750
• Main Authors: Asmar, B. N., Ergenzinger, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 15.12.1999; Wiley
• Subjects: Dalton model; Dead Sea evaporation; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Marine geology; Penman model; regression; saline lake; Middle East; Dead Sea; salinity; canals; salt lakes; projects; mathematical models; Red Sea; air; velocity; water; Asia; winds; regression; temperature; humidity; evaporation
• ISSN: 0885-6087; 1099-1085
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1085(19991215)13:17<2743::AID-HYP845>3.0.CO;2-U

A project to link the Dead Sea to the Red Sea via a canal is undergoing extensive study. As part of this study, a method to estimate evaporation from the Dead Sea is required as it is a hypersaline lake in which standard methods cannot be applied. Two methods based on Penman and Dalton formulae were examined. The method derived here is a modified Penman model that estimates the evaporation as a function of salinity, humidity, air temperature and wind speed. Other parameters such as water temperature are included implicitly in the model. The results obtained were verified as satisfactory agreement was achieved by comparison with previous measurements. A short‐cut relationship to estimate evaporation as a function of salinity only was also derived. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.