The Dead Sea Region with its unique landscape and cultural area is the central basis of life in the region and of great economic and ecological importance. On the other hand, the region is faced to hazardous natural phenomena and rapid environmental changes.

After an introduction on the Dead Sea region, it‘s climate, culture, living conditions and history, the Winter School will focus on meteorological and hydrological aspects.

Meteorology is aimed on evaporation from the Dead Sea water body, and subsequent atmospheric humidity transport processes by local and regional wind systems. These processes among others govern the haze formation in the Dead Sea valley and play a role in the radiation budget, responsible for the positive effect on skin diseases in the area.

Humidity is also crucial for the initiation of convection and convective storms resulting in flash floods and thereby linking meteorological and hydrological research. In case of flash floods, rapid runoff generation results in sudden runoff increase of high magnitude. They can cause damage to infrastructure and even losses of lives. The Winter School covers flash floods from the triggering meteorological event, via runoff generation to flood warning.

Flash floods contribute an important share to the water budget. Besides the modelling of flash floods including sediment transport, the water budget estimation is a further topic.