HELMHOLTZ extreme
The lowest-elevation monitoring station in the world

<b>The sea used to be here</b> The tower with measuring devices stands 428 metres below sea level. Measuring-station data can be viewed live at:<a external="1" target="_blank" href="http://www.deserve-vi.net/index.php/links">www.deserve-vi.net/index.php/links</a> Photo: Ulrich Corsmeier/KIT, IMK-TRO
Every morning, the commute to their monitoring equipment takes these research scientists along a shoreline-railway that is otherwise used only by tourists in bikinis and swimsuits. In temperatures reaching to 40° C in the shade, they travel to the shore of the Dead Sea, where they have erected a six-meter-high tower equipped with their measuring instruments. The station is situated 428 meters below sea-level
The causes for this extreme recession are numerous. The quantity of surface-water that flows into this sea every year is continuously diminishing. Evaporation seems to have a large degree of influence on the sea level – although precisely how much has remained a mystery thus far. With the aid of initial data from these gauges, research scientists have been successful in collecting information to this end. For the future, they are expecting to be able to make assertions regarding water availability in the region – even if they are forced to travel much farther to get to the beach.
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