Dr. Tuvia Turkeltaub
The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research
My life before BGU:
I was born and raised in Beer-Sheva. I studied at the Air Force Technical School for high school. For my undergrad, I studied in the Department of Soil and Water Sciences at the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I studied for my advanced degrees at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at BGU's Sde Boker campus, specializing in hydrology. After receiving my doctorate, I had a postdoc in Lancaster, located in northwest England.
Why BGU?
I love the Negev Desert (actually, anywhere with above 200 mm rain is too green for me) and I’ve known I want to continue doing research since I finished my bachelor's degree. Ben-Gurion University allows me to combine the two.
My research:
I am interested in the impact of climate change, and changes in land use on surface and underground water resources. Climate change is a broad term that encompasses many different processes. I am interested in how the statistical changes in components of the water cycle, such as rainfall and evaporation, can affect the quality and quantity of groundwater and surface runoff. I recently showed that in arid and semi-arid regions, the amount of groundwater is more significantly affected by changes in the average annual evaporation than by changes in the average annual rainfall. The main challenge is that there are a multitude of different climate forecasts, with each forecast presenting different statistical changes to the climate, so you have to isolate the relevant factors when examining the impact on water resources.
An insight from my research:
In order to give the concept of climate change greater weight and more serious consideration, it must be broken down into its components and identify the concrete processes that are, or could be taking place as a result.
Something that doesn't appear on my CV:
I am the father of two sons and a daughter and am married to Tamsin. I love to travel and read books.
A source of inspiration:
The Big Lebowski, Meir Ariel, Seinfeld, Ka-Tsetnik.
If I wasn't a researcher, I would...
work in agriculture.
In brief:
- Fauda or Big Brother? I can’t answer. One is post-traumatic and the other is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
- Yoga or CrossFit? CrossFit
- Hapoel or Maccabi? Only Hapoel Beer-Sheva (Negev)
- Ravid Plotnik or Noa Kirel? Meir Ariel. No one writes like that anymore... I've gotten old.
- Steak or tofu? Steak. To quote my daughter on tofu: 'It's like unbaked dough,' with a sour expression.
- Trekking or spa? Trekking (hiking)
- Car or train? Train, because it is crowded here.
- Classical Europe or India? Europe. I never felt a connection to the East.
- Ocean or pool? There's nothing like the ocean.
- Night or morning? Morning
- Winter or summer? Summer. Anything below 30 degrees is awful.
- City or country? Country. Everyone knows everyone.
- Film or play? Film
- Phone call or text message? Phone call. I'm a conversationalist.
- Savory or sweet? Savory
- Android or Iphone? Iphone (an addict)
- Dog or cat? I love dogs.
- Facebook or Twitter? One is worse than the other. I prefer face-to-face conversation.
