9. Type of Habitat

The local climate of the Dead Sea is hot and arid, as the Judean Hills "block" the rain. The average annual rainfall at the surface is some 70 millimeters per year. The city of Sedom at the southern end has 300 cloudless days per year, a summertime relative humidity between 30 and 40 percent and an average monthly temperature of 16-34 degrees Celcius (61-93 degrees Fahrenheit). As a result, other than inflow from the Jordan River, there is not much fresh water that enters the lake. The Dead Sea is appropriately named because the number of life forms that can survive in the hyper saline water is limited.

The level of the lake was highest in recent history during the 1930s, before Israel and Jordan embarked on national water projects. The canal plan calls for refilling the lake to this historic level (393 meters below the Mediterranean) over a period of 10-20 years. Once this level is reached, the rate of inflow would have to be adjusted to preserve the water balance between fresh and salty water. The mean rate of inflow of Mediterranean seawater that would balance evaporation is only two-thirds as much as the inflow during the filling stage. As a result, the hydroelectric system would be less profitable than it had been during the initial years of open flow. The inflow would be regulated so that the rate of evaporation from the lake's surface can be increased. And, since seawater has a higher vapor pressure than the brine, scientists envision a layered effect rather than a deep mixing of the two solutions. A layer of seawater mixed with brine would rest on top of the dense hypersaline solution.