2014 - 2015

0691-2300-01
  The Climate of Israel                                                                                
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
Prof. Hadas SaaroniYad Avner - Geography115Mon0800-1000 Sem  2
 
 
University credit hours:  2.0

Course description
The objective of the course is to study the climate and weather regime of Israel. It aims to provide students with an understanding of the processes that determine Israel's climate: spatio-temporal variations, typical weather systems and extreme events.
The following topics are included:
1. The location of Israel in relation to global circulation patterns
2. Regional and geographic controls
3. The climate classification of Israel according to different schemes (e.g., Köppen)
4. Approaches for season definition in Israel
5. The climate regime: solar radiation, temperature, winds, humidity, precipitation, heat and cold stress
6. Typical weather systems and their climatic impact
7. Extreme weather events: climatic and environmental impacts
8. Variability and long-term changes in Israel's climate

Bibliography:
1. Alpert, P., I. Osetinsky, B. Ziv, and H. Shafir (2004a) Semi-objective classification for daily synoptic systems: application to the eastern Mediterranean climate change. International Journal of Climatology, 24 (8), 1001-1011
2. Alpert, P., I. Osetinsky, B. Ziv, and H. Shafir (2004b) A new season definition based on classified synoptic systems: An example for the eastern Mediterranean. International Journal of Climatology, 24 (8), 1013-1021.
3. Alpert, P. and B. Ziv, (1989) The Sharav Cyclone - observation and some theoretical considerations. J. Geophys. Res., 94 (D15), 18495-18514.
4. Bitan, A. and Rubin, S. (1994) Climatic Atlas of Israel for Physical and Environmental Planning and Design. Ramot Publishing, Tel Aviv.
5. Goldreich, Y. (2003) The Climate of Israel - Observation, Research and Applications. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers: New York, 270 p
6. Kahana R, Ziv B, Enzel Y, Dayan U. (2002) Synoptic climatology of major floods in the Negev desert, Israel. Int. J. Climatol. 22: 867-882.
7. Levin, N. and Saaroni, H. (1999) Fire weather in Israel - synoptic climatological analysis. GeoJournal, 47, 4, 523-538.
8. Price, C., Stone, L., Huppert, A., Rajagopalan, B. and Alpert, P. (1998) A possible link between El Nino and precipitation in Israel, Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 3963-3966.
9. Saaroni, H. Bitan, A. Alpert, P. and Ziv, B. (1996) Continental polar outbreaks into the Levant and eastern Mediterranean. International Journal of Climatology, 16, 1175-1191.
10. Saaroni, H. Ziv, B. Alpert P. and Bitan, A. (1998) Easterly wind storms over Israel. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 59, 61-77.
11. Saaroni, H. and Ziv, B. (2000) Summer Rainfall in a Mediterranean Climate - The Case of Israel: Climatological - Dynamical Analysis. International Journal of Climatology, 20, 191-209.
12. Saaroni, H., Maza, E. and Ziv, B. (2004) Summer sea breeze, under suppressive synoptic forcing, in a super-arid city - Eilat, Israel. Climate Research, 26, 213-220.
13. Saaroni, H., Halfon, N., Ziv, B., Alpert, P. and Kutiel, H. (2010) Links between the rainfall regime in Israel and location and intensity of Cyprus lows, International Journal of Climatology, 30, 1014-1025.
14. Saaroni, H., Ziv, B., Osetinsky, I. and Alpert, P. (2010) Factors Governing the Inter-Annual Variation and the Long-term Trend of the 850-hPa Temperature over Israel, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Part B, 136, 305–318.
15. Sharon, D. and H. Kutiel (1986) The distribution of rainfall intensity in Israel, its regional and seasonal variations and its climatological evaluation. International Journal of Climatology, 6, 277-291.
16. Sohar, E. (1980) Determination and presentation of heat load in physiologically and meaningful terms. Inter. J. Bioclimatol., Ser. B., 14, 336-359.
17. Yosef, Y., Saaroni, H. and Alpert, P. (2009) Trends in daily rainfall intensity over Israel 1950/1-2003/4, The Open Atmospheric Science Journal, 3, 196-203.
18. Ziv, B. and Yair, Y. (1994) The Climate of Israel in: Introduction to Meteorology. Unit 5. The Open University of Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel (in Hebrew)
19. Ziv, B., Saaroni H. and Alpert, P. (2004) The factors governing the summer regime of the eastern Mediterranean. International Journal of Climatology, 24, 1859-1871.
20. Ziv, B., Dayan, U., Kushnir, Y., Roth, C. and Enzel, Y. (2006) Regional and global atmospheric patterns governing rainfall in the southern Levant. International Journal of Climatology, 26, 55-73.
21. Ziv, B., Saaroni, H., Ganot, M., Yair, Y., Baharad, A. and Isaschari, D. (2009) Atmospheric factors governing winter lightning activity in the region of Tel Aviv, Israel. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 95, 3-4, 301-310.

Prerequisite:
Introduction to Climate and Environmental Aspects (0691150301)

Grade:
Exercises: 20%
Exam: 80%

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