Physical properties of Dead Sea water
Dead Sea water surface level
The Dead Sea consists of two basins: a deep and wide main northern basin and a shallow and small southern basin. The area of the Dead Sea depends on the height of the water in it. When the Dead Sea has a lot of water, i.e. a higher level, its area becomes larger because it covers new lands. The opposite is true, as evaporation increases, its surface area becomes smaller. This concept is supported by the presence of lands south of the Dead Sea that rise only very slightly above the southern basin, and extend a distance of more than 20 km south to the Khnezira escarpment. The area of the Dead Sea in 1960 AD, when its surface level was 5,397 m below the level of the Mediterranean Sea, was 1000 square kilometers. Its volume was 143 cubic kilometers.
The Dead Sea level has been subject to change up or down over time since its formation. The surface has changed tens of meters in the past hundreds of years, and the change was approximately 10 meters in the last century. The factors that affect this change are:
1. Climate, including temperature and rainfall.
2. Human activities, including agricultural activities, dams, or diversions.
As for human activities, they have led to clear changes in the sea water level between 1930 and 1936 AD, when the level decreased by 3.5 meters. Then between 1955 and 1963 AD, when the level decreased by approximately 4 meters. Then the decrease continued from 1963 until now, when it decreased by five meters to -5,400 meters, and the sea level is still decreasing continuously.
In the first case, a dam was built in 1929 near the outlet of Lake Tiberias to raise the water level in it, and another dam was built at the confluence of the Yarmouk River and the Jordan River to create Lake Pinhas. All of this led to the retention of the golden waters to the Dead Sea, which led to a decrease in its level. The second sharp drop in the water level was caused by raising the water level of Lake Tiberias again and maintaining that level (in the early sixties). This period was the one that directly preceded the diversion of the waters of Tiberias or the Jordan River to the Negev in southern Palestine, which led to the First Arab Summit Conference in 1964 in Egypt. The water level in the Dead Sea has continued to drop continuously since that time until now.
Waves
The Dead Sea is a small, enclosed sea surrounded by mountains, and therefore high waves like those of open oceans are not expected in it, I mean its waves occur during the period of strong winds in the region, especially in winter and to some extent in spring and autumn, and the winds are mostly north-south. Then the waves move from north to south and the winds start moving and so do the waves until 3pm after which things start to calm down again. As soon as 8pm arrives the sea is calm again and remains so until morning.
Transparency (meaning to be very clear so that things can be seen clearly)
The transparency of the water is the maximum distance or depth at which a white metal disc with a diameter of 30 cm (secchi disc) can be seen. In the Dead Sea this distance is between 5 m and 4 m (compare 10 m - 30 m in the Mediterranean).
Water temperature
The surface water temperature is affected by its proximity or distance from the shore and thus the depth of the water column at that point. It also depends of course on the time of year, i.e. summer or winter. The average surface temperatures of the southern and northern basins form a very clear cycle. While the highest average temperature (37 degrees Celsius) occurs in August, the lowest average is (19-23 degrees Celsius) and occurs in January and February.