Effects of Climate Conditions on TP Outsourcing in Lake Kinneret (Israel)

Abstract

Since the mid-1980s, significant changes in climate conditions have occurred, and trends of dryness in the Kinneret drainage basin have been documented, including a temperature increase and precipitation decline. The precipitation decline, and consequently the reduction in river discharge, resulted in a decrease in TP (total phosphorus) flux into Lake Kinneret. After the drainage of the Hula natural wetlands and old Lake Hula during the 1950s, the ecological characteristics of the Hula Valley were modified. Nutrient fluxes downstream into Lake Kinneret were therefore predicted. The impacts of climate conditions (precipitation and discharge) on TP (total phosphorus) outsourcing through erosive action are significant: higher and lower discharge enhances and reduces TP load, respectively. The total TP flushing range from the Hula Valley peat soil through the subterranean medium and where TP is directed are not precisely known but are probably outside Lake Kinneret. Most runoff water and mediated TP originates from bedrock through erosive action. Long-term records of TP concentrations in headwaters and potential resources in the Hula Valley confirmed the significant influence of climate conditions on the outsourcing of TP capacity. The impacts of agricultural development, external fertilizer loads and migratory cranes in the winter are probably insignificant.