The Eastern Mediterranean - Levant late Quaternary climates: Paleohydrology and Extreme Floods from the Dead Sea ICDP Core (PALEX-II)

极端水文气象事件，特别是洪水，是对人类的主要威胁。因此，研究洪水的起源和机制，以便更好地预测洪水的频率和幅度及其对区域环境的影响，是科学面临的一个新挑战。在环境条件和政治局势方面都非常敏感的区域是近东的死海地区。目前的全球变化预计甚至会增加世界这一地区的环境压力，特别是水文过程。因此，对于地球和环境研究来说，这是一个理想的和非常有趣的地区。Palex(死海ICDP沉积物岩心的古水文学和极端洪水)项目通过来自以色列、巴勒斯坦和德国的科学家在德国科学基金会DFG三方计划内的共同努力，解决了该地区极端水文气象事件的各个方面。我们应用了一种新的方法，将使用尖端技术观测最近的山洪暴发与从高时间分辨率的死海沉积物记录中先进地重建数千年来的长洪水时间序列相结合。在这方面，国际大陆科学钻探计划(ICDP)从死海深盆地钻探获得的长沉积岩芯提供了一个独特的档案，可以重建过去200年的自然水文气候变化。此外，我们的气象和沉积学联合监测揭示了洪水的气象成因及其对侵蚀、泥沙输送和沉积的影响的全面过程，这使得我们能够更好地解释这一特殊的沉积物记录，以利用事件触发的沉积物作为过去洪水的替代品。通过这种方法，我们旨在研究洪水发生和动态的变化与气候边界条件变化的关系，并检验在气候变暖的情况下极端洪水的预测增加。除了科学目标之外，Palex还在中东的能力建设和国际联网方面做出了重大努力，以促进和平合作，解决共同问题并开发人力和技术资源。因此，该项目概念的一个重要部分是联合培训来自巴勒斯坦、以色列和德国的早期研究人员。Palex的个人指导理念将使年轻科学家有机会与所有参与机构的资深科学家密切合作，发展他们的研究技能。

Extreme hydrometeorological events and especially floods are a major threat for humans. Therefore, it is an emerging challenge for science to investigate origin and mechanisms of floods in order to better anticipate their frequency and amplitudes as well as their impacts on regional environments. A very sensitive region in terms of both environmental conditions and the political situation is the Dead Sea area in the Near East. Ongoing global change is expected to even increase the environmental pressure and in particular hydrological processes in this part of the world. Therefore, this is an ideal and highly interesting region for Earth and environmental research. The PALEX (Paleohydrology and Extreme Floods from the Dead Sea ICDP sediment core) project addresses all aspects of extreme hydro-meteorological events in this region through a joint effort of scientist from Israel, Palestine and Germany within the trilateral program of the German Science Foundation DFG. We apply a novel approach of combining the observation of recent flash floods using cutting-edge technologies with advanced reconstructions of long flood time-series over several thousand years from the Dead Sea sediment record at high temporal resolution. In this respect, the long sediment cores obtained by the ICDP (International Continental Scientific Drilling Program) drilling from the deep basin of the Dead Sea provide a unique archive to reconstruct the natural hydro-climatic variability for the last 200 kyrs. In addition, the comprehensive process understanding of the meteorological origin of floods and their effects on erosion, sediment transport and deposition revealed by our combined meteorological and sedimentological monitoring allows an improved interpretation of this exceptional sediment record to utilize event-triggered sediments as proxies for past flooding. With this approach we aim at investigating the relation of changes in the occurrence and dynamics of floods to changing climatic boundary conditions and test the predicted increase of extreme floods in a warming climate. Beyond the scientific goals, PALEX undertakes major efforts in capacity building and international networking in the Middle East to foster peaceful collaboration for solving common problems and development of human and technical resources. A crucial part of the project concept, therefore, is joint training of early stage researchers from Palestine, Israel and Germany. The PALEX personal mentoring concept will give young scientists the opportunity to work closely with senior scientists from all participating institutions and develop their research skills.