Abstract
The Dead Sea basin is the lowest terrestrial site on the globe. A meteorological station monitoring the global, UVB and UVA irradiation, and the dry bulb temperature was established in 1995 in conjunction with a study of bio-climatological properties of the region with regard to photoclimatherapy treatment of dermatological diseases. The availability of such irradiation and dry bulb temperature databases has been utilized to perform a study to determine if any trends regarding either irradiation or dry bulb temperature exists at this unique site. The global irradiation database included the time interval 1995–2021, whereas the corresponding time interval for the UVB and UVA irradiation databases was 1995–2018. There was no indication of any trends, based upon a p value analysis with regard to the global and UVB and UVA irradiation with the exception of global irradiation during September (− 120.7 Wh/m2/decade; ~ 2%/decade) and UVA irradiation during March (+ 11.1 Wh/m2/decade; ~ 4%/decade) and September (− 9.1 Wh/m2/decade; ~ 0.6%/decade).
The dry bulb temperature database consisted of the time interval 1995–2021 and trends were observed during the months of August, September, and October. The dry bulb temperature data were analyzed as a function of time (Israel Standard Time) interval; viz., diurnal from 06:00 to 18:00, nocturnal from 18:00 to 06:00, and daily from 00:00 to 24:00. The trends observed during these three months varied between 0.38 and 0.70 °C/decade.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
All data utilized in this study are reported in the tables and for any further information please contact corresponding author.
Code availability
Not applicable.
References
Abels DJ, Kattan BJ (1985) Psoriasis treatment at the Dead Sea. J Am Acad Dermatol 12:639–643
Avrach WW, Niordson AM (1974) Treatment of psoriasis at the Dead Sea. Ugeskr Laeg 13:2687–2690
Berkovits EM, Sabo E, Tal A (1999) The effect of a winter camp for cystic fibrosis patients at the Dead Sea region. Netherlands J Medicine 54(Suppl):S65-A129
Dostrovsky A, Sagher F (1959) The therapeutic effect of the Dead Sea on some skin diseases. Harefuah 57:143–145
Even-Paz Z, Efron D (1996) The Dead Sea as a health spa resort. Isr J Med Sci 32(Suppl):4–8
Even-Paz Z, Efron D, Kipnis V, Abels DJ (1996) How much Dead Sea for psoriasis. J Dermatol Treat 7:17–19
Kramer MR, Springer C, Berkman N, Bar-Yishay E, Avital A, Mandelberg A, Efron D, Godfrey S (1994) Effect of natural oxygen enrichment at low altitude on oxygen-dependent patients with end-stage lung disease. Annals Intern Med 121:658–662
Kramer MR, Springer C, Berkman N, Glazer M, Bublil M, Bar-Yishay E, Godfrey S (1998) Rehabilitation of hypoxemic patients with COPD at low altitude at the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth. Chest 113:571–575
Kudish AI, Evseev EG (2016) Analysis of long-term bio-climatological measurements at the Dead Sea basin, Neve Zohar. Negev Dead Sea Arava Stud 9(3):86–97
Kudish AI, Evseev EG, Kushelevsky AP (1997) The analysis of ultraviolet radiation in the Dead Sea Basin. Int J Climatol 17:1697–1704
Kudish AI, Abels D, Harari M (2003) Ultraviolet radiation properties as applied to photoclimatherapy at the Dead Sea. Int J Dermatol 42:359–365
KudishAI EvseevEG (2021) Analysis of ambient temperature measurements for a single site in the Middle East: Beer Sheva, Israel (1988–2019). Theor App Climatol 143:1315–1325. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-020-03485-w
Maugeri M, Nanni T (1998) Surface air temperature variations in Italy: Recent trends and an update to 1993. Theor Appl Climatol 61:191–196
Steinhorn I, Gat JR (1983) The Dead Sea. Sci Am 249:84–91
Sukenik S (1994) Spa treatment for arthritis at the Dead Sea area. Isr J Med Sci 30:919–921
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the Israel Meteorological Service for their aid in both design and maintenance of the meteorological station. We also wish to thank Ms. Lilia Klezman for her help in data analysis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
The authors have contributed equally to this study.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
Not applicable.
Consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
Not required.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kudish, A.I., Evseev, E.G. Trend assessment of global, UVB, UVA irradiation, and dry bulb temperature at the lowest terrestrial site on earth: Dead Sea, Israel. Theor Appl Climatol 149, 1069–1078 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-022-04095-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-022-04095-4