Structure and Dynamics of Rainstorms Inducing Floods in the Negev

Project number: 00R-21
Project duration: 27 months
Start date: 6/1/2000
End date: 8/31/2002 (Original End Date Extended)
Institution of Principal Investigator while on this project: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

INVESTIGATORS (most current known information):

Dayan, Uri (PI) - Professor, Department of Geography, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91905, ISRAEL, TEL: +972-2-588-3340, FAX: +972-2-588-3340, Email: msudayan@mscc.huji.ac.il (Information last revised: 11/17/2004) Selected references.

Hirschboeck, Katherine K. - Associate Professor of Climatology, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, The University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85721, USA, TEL: +1-520-621-6466, FAX: +1-520-621-8229, Email: katie@ltrr.arizona.edu, Web page recommendations: Impact of Climate Change and Landuse in the Southwestern United States: http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/; (Information last revised: 7/26/2000) Selected references.

Margalit, Adina - Earth Science Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, ISRAEL, TEL: +972-2-658-4390, FAX: +972-2-566-2581, Email: adinam@isdn.net.il (Information last revised: 7/12/2000)

Sharon, David - Professor, Earth Science Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, ISRAEL, TEL: +972-2-658-4366, FAX: +972-2-566-2581 (Information last revised: 7/12/2000)

Ziv, Baruch - Head of Academic Development Administration, The Open University of Israel, PO Box 39328, Tel Aviv 61392, ISRAEL, TEL: +972-3-646-0226, FAX: +972-3-646-0700, Email: baruchz@oumail.openu.ac.il (Information last revised: 7/26/2000) Selected references.

FINAL REPORT ABSTRACT:

The project intended to contribute to our understanding of the atmospheric processes that produce floods in the Negev Desert and to promote our ability to predict such floods. This report summarizes our activities during the entire project period. The missions specified below, following the scientific schedule appeared in the original proposal, are listed against the actual Production:

Mission: Completion of Flood Archive
Production: Done

Mission: Analysis of ground truth data of 2 selected rain-storms
Production: Result for 17-18 October rainstorm has been published
Results for 20-22 Dec rainstorm were summarized in a form of report

Mission: Analysis of synoptic-scale atmospheric data for 2 selected rain-storms
Production: Results for 2 storms have been published. Additional case is ready for publication

Mission: Travel of Israeli investigators in USA.
Production: Was performed in the University of Arizona by U. Dayan and B, Ziv, who also gave seminars there

Mission: Research results will be presented at relevant conferences.
Production: The results were presented in 2 conferences in Israel and 2 conferences abroad

Mission: Studying the forecast of floods by the use of synoptic-scale data
Production: The results are ready for publication

FUNDING:

Support for this project came from the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service

OUTCOMES:

Articles in Journals

Kahana, R., B. Ziv, U. Dayan and Y. Enzel. "Predicting Major Floods in the Negev Desert, Israel." Weather and Forecasting (in preparation).

Ziv, B., 2001. "A subtropical rainstorm associated with a tropical plume over Africa and the Middle East." Theor. Appl. Clim 69,½:91-102

Dayan, U., B. Ziv, A. Margalit, E. Morin and D. Sharon. 2001. "A severe autumn storm over the middle-east: Synoptic and mesoscale convection analysis." Theor. Appl. Clim. 69,½:03-122.

Kahana, R., B. Ziv, Y. Enzel and U. Dayan. 2002. "Synoptic climatology of major floods In the Negev Desert, Israel." Int. J. Clim 22:867-822.

Kahana, R., B. Ziv, Y. Enzel and U. Dayan. 2002. "Synoptic climatology of major floods in the Negev Desert, Israel." International Journal of Climatology 22:867-882

Enzel, Y, R. Ken-Tor, D. Sharon, H. Gvirtzman, U. Dayan and M. Stein. 2003. "Late holocene climates of the Near East deduced from Dead Sea level variations and regional winter rainfall." Quaternary Research 60:263-273

Margalit, A., D. Sharon, B. Ziv and U. Dayan. 2003. "A mid-winter, tropical extreme flood-producing storm in the Negev, 20-23 December 1993: A Meso-Scale Analysis." Horizons in Geography 57-58, 134-145 (in Hebrew).

Ziv, B., U. Dayan and D. Sharon. 2004. "A mid-winter, tropical extreme flood-producing storm in southern-Israel: Synoptic scale analysis." Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics DOI, 10.1007/s00703-003- 0054-7.

Kahana, R., B. Ziv, U. Dayan and Y. Enzel. 2004. "Atmospheric predictors for major floods in the Negev Desert, Israel." International Journal of Climatology 24:1137-1147.

Presentations

Ziv, B., U. Dayan, A. Margalit and D. Sharon. 2002. "A mid-winter, tropical extreme flood-producing storm in the Negev, December 1993: Synoptic scale analysis." (in preparation).

Margalit, A., D. Sharon, B. Ziv and U. Dayan. 2002. "A mid-winter, tropical extreme flood-producing storm in the Negev, December 1993: Meso-scale analysis." Report to the International Arid Lands Consortium.

Kahana, R., B. Ziv and U. Dayan. 2001. "Predicting flash floods in the Negev Desert, Israel." Presented, 3rd plinius conference on Mediterranean storms, European Geophysical Society, October. Baja Sardinia, Italy.

Kahana R, B. Ziv and Y. Enzel. 2000. "Synoptic climatology of rainstorms that induce floods in Southern Israel: A key for improving flood prediction." The EGS2000:XXV General Assembly. April. Nice, France.