Jerusalem - Rose, Olivia, Marie, Nick, Cole

Jerusalem, Israel

Rose, Olivia, Marie, Nick, and Cole

Group 11

Weather and Climate

Land/Environment

Jerusalem is located in the Middle East, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains (2). It is located between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, Jerusalem's placement between seas and its line on the Equator make it a subtropical semi-arid climate, which causes it to be, more stable and more consistently warm environment all throughout the year. Jerusalem lies on 31. 771 Latitude and 35.217 Longitude and is in the IDT Time Zone. The average temperature in January is 45°-55° F and the average temperature in August is 66°-84°F (1).

Rain Fall/ wet and dry seasons

In Jerusalem, their wet season is in the winter months and their dry season is during the summer months. There is little to no rain June-Sept, but even the rest of the year that qualifies as the wet season still does not get much rain fall, with only an average of 10 rain days each month through Nov-March (Jerusalem, Israel travel weather averages (1).

Global map provides new insights into land use https://phys.org/news/2013-11-global-insights.html

Humidity

On average, the annual percentage of humidity in Jerusalem is 47%, with January being the most humid month and May being the least humid. In January, there is an average of 61% humidity; in May, there is an average of only 35% humidity (4).

Winds

The predominant wind direction is North-South, this is the Westerlies global wind patter. Israel is directly affected by the North Atlantic Oscillation. If the jet stream and stormtrack is positive in its direction, then Israel will be affected by strong subtropical winds, which causes the region to be drier than usual. But if the jet stream and stormtrack is negative in its direction, then Israel will be affected by weak subtropical winds, which causes the region to be wetter than usual (5).

https://ims.gov.il/en/FireIndexExplanation

Forecasted forest fire danger level for the date 18.11.2019

Severe Weather

Jerusalem, which is located in Central Israel, is often hit with extreme heat and droughts in the summer months. As the drought and heat increases, the threat of forest fires also increases. However, flash floods are a major problem since the ground is so dry, meaning it cannot absorb rain fast enough. Water runs over the land, flooding surrounding areas and destroying infrastructure and the ecosystem (6). Mediterranean tropical-like cyclones, nicknamed “medicanes,” form over the Mediterranean Sea near the north African coast. They are similar to typhoons and actual hurricanes, except they from over cool water and not out in the open ocean. “Medicanes” are a rare weather phenomenon that, alongside the heightened risk for flash floods, can be extremely destructive (7).

Biogeography

Arabian Oryx

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-kind-of-animals-live-in-israel.html

Climate Affects on Plants and Animals

Animals living in the Mediterranean have adapted to the hot and sparse climate by becoming agile climbers, foraging over vast areas, and diversifying their diet to include plants in the brush. Plants, who had to adapt to very small amounts of rain, store water within thick bark or waxy coverings. Also, as a means of defense, they have thorns or hard needles to ward off animals from eating them (8).

Biomes and Ecoregions

Israel is classified as a Mediterranean Climate (15), but it can be split between four smaller biomes, Coastal Plain, Central Hill, Jordan Rift Valley, and Negev Desert. Jerusalem mainly lies in the Central Hill zone, surrounded by hills, bordering the Negev Desert. The mountains of Galilee is the highest point in Israel at 3,963 feet. (11) Jerusalem looks out on the arid mountains of eastern Judaea, and the Mediterranean Sea. Jerusalem is surrounded by, and rests on, the hills of Judaea, this causes the area to be a watershed that effects the structure and growth of the physical environment and the vegetation and animal life. (15)

Hooded Crow https://ebird.org/species/hoocro1

Topography Influence on Plants and Animals

Jerusalem sits on the water ridge between the rainy Hare Yehuda and the dry Judaean desert. Jerusalem has both Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian vegetation. There is a mix of red and brown Mediterranean soil, which was formed by different types of limestone chalk covering the hills that support as many as 1,000 other plant species, which include, in the spring, masses of wildflowers proliferate on slopes and wastelands. Jerusalem has various birds, which provides for 70 resident species and about 150 winter visitors. The most commonly seen birds are the hooded crow, jay, swift, and bulbul. (9)

Protected Sand Cat https://www.israel21c.org/cute-but-fierce-ramat-gan-safari-welcomes-sand-cat-kits/

Influence on Vegetation and Wildlife

Israel has a ton of species, compared to a lot of other countries which is around 2,500. The vegetation depends on where they are, their climate, rocks, soil and humans. Humans have caused soil around the world to be contaminated with metals among others. This puts vegetation, wildlife and humans at risk to consume these metals. A survey done in 2014 and based off of Finland's Ministry of Environmental Protection, identified over 23,000 localized areas that were already contaminated or already have been. (12) A study that took place between July and August of 2020 that introduced the hyperaccumulator plant that effectively store these metals within them. Some of these plants are sunflowers, corn, water lettuce and more. (13) Although this study was completed, more studies are been done to see how much of an impact that these plants will do to the soil in Israel. With the amount of metals in the soil, the vegetation will soon downfall. The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) and the Nature Reserves Authority made a campaign stating that their wildflowers were on the brink of extinction in the early 1960's. (16) These have helped stop the extinction of these flowers, and to this day people refrain from picking them. The SPNI has helped protect their landscapes, wildlife and environment for years, they hold classes all over and have been adopted into public schools. They are spreading awareness of the environmental issues. (16) Israel has a law that was enacted in 1990 that says that no one can hunt protected wildlife, unless they have a special hunting permit. However, they can hunt the protected wildlife if it for scientific purposes like reproduction. (17) Although there is not a lot of good impacts on Israel's wildlife, there are still a lot of laws in place to help protect them so that they can do what they need to do.

Environmental Threats

Jerusalem faces a heavy amount of pollution with a consistent moderate-to-high number of airborne particulates. Israeli cities are often plagued by traffic and pedestrian congestion, paired with the industrial emissions of many factories in the country, all of which effect Jerusalem. Jerusalem, along with all of Israel's, level of pollution is consistently exposed to pollutant levels that far exceed the limits outlined in the Clean Air Law (9)

Pollution is not the only threat to Jerusalem's environment, though, as non-native species have been steadily taking over Israel for years now. Two avians that were traditionally native to Israel have been declining in numbers since the takeover of one of the most invasive species on the planet, the Common Myna. The native House Sparrows population has dropped by 28% and the native White-Spectacled Bulbul's population has dropped by 45% in recent years, pushed out by species such as the Myna. (14)

House Sparrow https://www.bjournaleditions.com/post/curiosities-about-sparrows

Common Myna

https://ebird.org/species/commyn

White-Spectacled Bulbul

https://ebird.org/species/whsbul1

Landforms & Water

Current Internal Process of Tectonic Plates & Land Formation

The most significant tectonic feature near Jerusalem is the Dead Sea Rift, which is part of the larger East African Rift, and is a divergent boundary, meaning the two tectonic plates move away from each other. Along divergent boundaries, earthquakes are common, as well as rising magma that creates new oceanic crust (19). The Dead Sea Rift separates the Africa plate from the Arabia plate (21). This interaction between plates over millions of years have contributed to the formation of the many mountain ranges and valleys in the region. The rifting process within the Dead Sea Rift has helped form the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea (20).

The Dead Sea Rift (21)

Geologic History & Rock Types

The most common rocks found in Jerusalem consist mainly of sedimentary rocks. The exposed stones' most extensive, most significant parts comprise three main rock groups: Thick sequence of chalks, limestones, and cherts. This is because Israel is characterized by a vast transgression of a nutrient-rich sea, which deposits chalks and cherts in many places, including economic phosphorite layers(25).

https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/reports/shirav-schwartz-poster/he/Posters_H_IRPA.pdf (25)

Plate Boundaries

The Dead Sea Fault lies between the African and Arabian plates and, similar to the San Andreas fault in California, yields many earthquakes for the region. This transform boundary actually releases earthquakes quite often, but they are typically minor, nothing for the region to worry about as they are accustomed to it (21). The trouble comes roughly every 80 years, when a major Earthquake strikes. These huge earthquakes nearly always yield major casualties for the region and Jerusalem is expecting another soon, within the next few years (24).

Earthquake Rubble

Photostock-Israel/science Photo Library

Weathering and Erosion

Jerusalem's Western Wall is going through extreme erosion, this wall is what's left of an ancient wall that surrounded the courtyard of the Jewish Temple. The wall is currently eroding due to it being made of limestone which erode quite a bit over time that engineers are worried about the walls stability (22). Limestone is a carbonate rock meaning that it deteriorates when exposed to acid and mild acid rain water, and over years of this deterioration the wall slowly gets worse. Wind is also another reason for the walls erosion as the wind breaks down the corners of the stones (23).

Western Wall

https://www.touristisrael.com/western-wall/15946/

Water Sources & Watershed

Jerusalem lies between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea. They source their water from groundwater aquifers, these aquifers are partly fed by the watershed that spans around Jerusalem (As shown in the chart to the right), and they use desalination plants along the Mediterranean coast to source some of their water. They also source water from offshoots from the Jordan River that is sourced from Lake Kinneret or the Sea of Galilee that lies North of Jerusalem. The Jordan River runs down from the Sea of Galilee towards the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is the lowest lying lake in the world, that is sourced by rain and snow fall. The Jordan River has seen a 96% decline in water flow due to the construction of dams and diversion projects placed along the river. It is also highly polluted from agricultural runoff and sewage pollution. And with the decline of the Jordan river there has consequently been a decline in the water level of the Dead Sea. (18) Though having three different ways to source water sounds like a lot, it still isn't enough, Jerusalem and Israel as a whole suffers from extreme water shortages and is one of their most precious resources.