בקצה ההידרולוגיה: שחזור אירועי קיצון הידרולוגיים בנופים צחיחים
Drylands cover over a third of Earth’s land surface, yet remain among the least understood hydrological environments. Nearly all components of the desert water cycle are more uncertain than in wetter regions, despite these areas hosting over 20% of the global population and facing disproportionate risks from droughts, floods, and climate change. Improving our understanding is therefore both a scientific challenge and a practical necessity.
In this talk, I will present three studies that illuminate different aspects of the desert water cycle:
how satellite observations can be used to infer the (underwater) topography and volume of remote desert lakes; what atmospheric ingredients link moisture, rain, and floods in the hyperarid Sahara, and how these relate to the desert's paleo- (and future?) climate; and
how misjudged flood risk management on the desert margin contributed to the deadliest hydrometeorological disaster of the recent decades, in Derna, Libya.
Together, these studies show how combining satellite data and modelling can overcome limited observations to better quantify hydrological processes in deserts, while challenging prevailing assumptions about runoff generation and risk in arid regions.
