Effects of salinity upon evaporation from pans and shallow lakes near the Dead Sea

Summary

Evaporation was evaluated for three shallow lakes near the Dead Sea with specific gravities (s.g.) of 1.26, 1.31 and 1.34, and for a hypothetical fresh lake of similar depth. The annual march of lake temperature was adequately predicted with an equilibrium temperature model. Predicted temperatures were only slightly affected by neglecting heat exchange between the lake and the underlying sediments. Modeled lake temperatures were then used in a modified Penman-type model and an “alpha ratio” model to generate evaporation estimates. The evaporation models were verified by comparison against 1950'ies water balance estimates of evaporation from the Dead Sea (s.g. about 1.18). Annual totals of evaporation predicted by the models for the shallow lakes declined from 2125 mm for fresh water (s.g. = 1.0) down to 588 mm for the most saline conditions (s.g. = 1.34). Evaporation was also measured from sunken pans in which s.g. was maintained at 1.0, 1.26, 1.31 and 1.34. Mean monthly pan coefficients (from lake/pan evaporation for equal s.g. values) ranged from 0.63 up to 1.03 as s.g. increased from 1.00 up to 1.34. The variations in coefficients are attributed to effects of salinity on the mechanisms that control the gain and loss of heat to the ponds and evaporation pans. The temperatures of the saline lakes were always somewhat warmer than the temperatures measured in the sunken pans, ranging from + 0.7 °C for s.g. of 1.26 up to + 1.3 °C for s.g. of 1.34; the corresponding value for the fresh condition was — 0.4 °C. The pan coefficients defined here for saline conditions will be useful for estimating actual water loss from brine-filled ponds used in commercial extraction of potash and other chemicals.