The Dynamics of the Skin Temperature of the Dead Sea

Abstract

We explored the dynamics of the temperature of the skin layer of the Dead Sea surface by means of in situ meteorological and hydrographic measurements from a buoy located near the center of the lake. The skin temperature is most highly correlated to air temperature (0.93–0.98) in all seasons. The skin temperature is much less correlated to the bulk surface water temperature in the summer (0.80), when the lake is thermally stratified, and uncorrelated in the winter, when the Dead Sea is vertically mixed. Low correlations were found between the skin temperature and the solar radiation and wind speed in all seasons. The skin, with its low thermal inertia, responds immediately to the atmospheric forcing. Heat fluxes across the sea surface are also presented. The high correlation of skin temperature to air temperature with minimal time lag is a result of the nearly immediate response of the thin skin layer to the surface heat fluxes, primarily the sensible heat flux.