October 27, 2020. Click image for high-resolution view.
The Sea of Galilee in northern Israel—among the lowest-lying bodies of water on the planet—has actually long given spiritual motivation and intrigue. It was along the coasts of the shallow freshwater lake where the Christian gospels state Jesus carried out a few of his ministry and particular wonders. Jewish inhabitants developed the very first kibbutz close by. And it appears in particular Islamic prophesies.
The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 caught this false-color image (bands 6-5-4) of the lake and its surrounding landscape on October 27, 2020. The image was overlaid on a digital elevation design from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) to provide a sense of the topography.
Some underground springs drain pipes into the lake, however the majority of its water shows up through the Jordan River, which streams from Lebanon in the north to Israel and Jordan in the south. The Sea of Galilee (often called Lake Tiberias or Lake Kinneret) lies within the Jordan Rift Valley, a narrow anxiety that started forming 10s of countless years earlier as the Arabian plate tore far from Africa. Many of the marshy floodplains around the lake and to the south have actually been transformed into farmland, which appears brilliant green.
October 27, 2020. Click image for high-resolution view.
The Sea of Galilee has actually long been a popular location for pilgrims. Yet the condition of the lake has actually grown significantly rare in current years. Water levels dropped substantially throughout the previous 20 years, almost striking an all-time low in 2018. Less water triggers the lake to end up being saltier, making it less practical as a source of drinking water. Such modifications likewise threaten fish populations and motivate troublesome algae blossoms.
Understanding those decreasing water levels and discovering methods to keep them steady is a subject of much research study in the area. Explanations for the decrease consist of an absence of rain, increased water use upstream in Lebanon, increasing temperature levels (which increase evaporation), and the growth of farmland and watering around the lake. One research study group just recently examined all of these possibilities by evaluating meteorological information, info from stream assesses, and Landsat satellite observations to approximate farmland degree. They discovered the growth of farming and diversions for water usage in Israel over the previous 20 years to be the very best description for the decrease.
Recent years have actually been much better, as 2 damp winter seasons have actually assisted the lake rebound substantially. The water level stood at 209.9 meters (688.6 feet) on December 16, 2020, high enough that hydrologists consider it almost complete. The last time it reached such heights was almost 20 years earlier. Israel’s water authority has actually thought about opening a dam at the southern end of the lake to avoid flooding, according to The Jerusalem Post.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, utilizing Landsat information from the U.S. Geological Survey and topographic information from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM).
