The East Mediterranean Sea is the cradle of a few of the earliest civilizations and a major commerce, culture and transport hub for thousands of years. Its connection to the Red Sea via Suez canal, a rapid population growth, and the recent discoveries of natural gas reservoirs are some of the aspects for its present importance from political and economical points of view. At the same time, the East Mediterranean Sea is not explored enough and lack continuous observation data. Deep water and nearshore wave and current measurements are essential for understanding East Mediterranean weather and oceanography and its delicate ecological state. They have also great importance for the design of new maritime structures and human interfaces such as ports, breakwaters, desalination plants, and offshore platforms.

It is our firm believe that a combined effort of remote sensing and in-situ measurements will shed light on the oceanography of the East Mediterranean basin, improve the sustainability of our marine environmental and provide a valuable information to decision makers.

An oceanographic HF radar array system

MEPlab is currently installing an oceanographic HF radar array system (WERA) for conducting continuous long-range measurements of surface waves and currents in the East Med. Sea (up to ~150km off our shores). Advancing such a national and regional infra-structure is a very demanding undertaking, which depends on finding appropriate locations by the sea (the deployment requires a stretch of ~200-300m) and receiving various permissions.

a,b – radial current maps as measured by Ashkelon (Israel_1) and Ashdod (Israel_2) stations respectively; c – current map combined from two radial current maps; d – combined wave map

Oceanographic X-band radars

In a cooperation project with the Coastal and Marine Research Institute (CAMERI), an oceanographic X-band radar has just been installed in Haifa Port. It uses a commercial unit (WaMOS) for providing wave and current information up to ~4km range for investigating waves in Haifa Bay and its penetration to Haifa Port. MEPlab coordinates this research (sponsored by Israel Ministry of Science and Technology and IPC). Another radar is currently being installed on Tel-Aviv’s cliff for monitoring wave and currents before and after marine constructions.

The Deep Levantine Marine Station

Wave and upper layer (~30m) current measurements are conducted continuously since Nov 2016 as part of the lab’s participation in The Deep Levantine Marine Station — a joint deep water (~1500m) mooring located 50km away from Haifa led by Prof. Yishai Weinstein (Bar-Ilan University), Prof. Ilana Berman-Frank (Haifa University), Dr. Timor Katz (IOLR – Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research) and Prof. Barak Herut (IOLR). These are the first deep water wave measurements in Israel’s exclusive economic zone and one of the very few in the East Med. basin.

Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs)

MEPlab has various 5-beam ADCPs ADCP deployment (Nortek’s Signature 500/1000 and TRDI’s Sentinel V20/V50) with current and wave measurement capabilities together with various mooring equipment have been acquired. The lab has gained in-house diving capabilities for their nearshore deployment. The ADCPs include pressure cells that contribute to infra-gravity wave measurements.

Drifters

Jellyfish: swimming or drifting?

MEPLab’s down-looking ADCP deployment in a collaborative work with Dr. Yoav Lehahn, Dr. Daniel Sher, Dr. Tamar Lotan and Prof. Uri Shavit. Drone picture courtesy of Dr. Yoav Lehan.