Seminar "Double diffusion, gravity currents and sediment transport in the Dead Sea" by Prof. Eckart Meiburg

[Speaker]

Prof. Eckart Meiburg
Distinguished Professor
University of California at Santa-Barbara

[Abstract]

The environmental setting of the Dead Sea combines several aspects whose interplay creates flow phenomena and transport processes that cannot be observed anywhere else on Earth. As a terminal lake with a rapidly declining surface level, the Dead Sea has a salinity level that is close to saturation. During the summer, it gives rise to intense thermohaline double diffusion, which can vary in strength between the more diluted northern section and the saltier southern region. We explore the interaction of these regions via highly resolved direct numerical simulation, and we show that it can give rise to super- or subcritical gravity currents propagating along the lake surface and the seafloor. We also investigate the erosive capabilities of these gravity currents via particle-resolved direct numerical simulations.