The post‐ 1979 thermohaline structure of the Dead Sea and the role of double‐diffusive mixing

Abstract

After centuries of meromixis (year‐ round stratification with a permanent halocline), the Dead Sea has passed through two distinct stages in the last decade: first a 4‐yr meromictic stage and then a holomictic stage. In the first stage, classic one‐dimensional processes dominated. In the second stage, three different regimes operated in a seasonal cycle: salt precipitation in spring and early summer, double‐diffusive mixing in late summer and autumn, and vertical mixing in winter. During the second (holomictic) stage the Dead Sea as a whole also underwent secular changes: a gradual change in the salt composition of its brines, an increase of salt concentration, and a gradual heating.