Our group focuses on the relationship between water and extreme weather events in regions characterised by scarcity of water as well as the impact of climate change on such interactions. The research lies at the boundary between hydrology, climatology, atmospheric sciences, and surface processes in environments ranging from vast barren deserts to Mediterranean catchments.

Research Methods

The interdisciplinary research we do combines the development of new tools, data analysis and collection, and modelling of climatic- and hydrologic-related phenomena.

 

Research Students

• Atul Rai; PhD student, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong. Co-supervised by Tim Cohen. Thesis title: Australia’s inland hydrology: quantifying discharge characteristics of the Lake Eyre basin and Australia’s channel country

• Miku Nakamura; MSc student, the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich. Co-supervised by Iris Thurnherr. Thesis title: Meteorological factors involved in heavy precipitation in and filling of Kati-Thanda Lake Eyre.

• Guorong Ling; MSc student in the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich. Co-supervised by Hilla Afargan-Gerstman. Thesis title: Forecasting cyclones related to heavy precipitation events in the Sahara.

 

Contact Information 

Moshe (Koko) Armon | moshe.armon@mail.huji.ac.il

 

Our research examines the processes shaping modern surface environments and investigates Quaternary terrestrial changes influenced by hydro-meteorological and climatic variations. We focus on landscape formation across diverse temporal and spatial scales, including slopes, fluvial systems, lakes, coastal areas, soils, and dust. A key emphasis is on quantifying and modeling the changes that occurred during the Quaternary period. Our approach integrates Quaternary sediment stratigraphy, sedimentological tools, and the study of sediment transport over both short and long timeframes, with particular attention to extreme events. Palaeohydrology of lakes and rivers has been a consistent theme in our research over the years.

Our work establishes critical links between climate, hydrology, pedology, active tectonics, and the processes of dust and loess creation, deposition, and accumulation—primarily in arid-desert regions, their margins, and Mediterranean and monsoon areas. A significant focus of our research is on climate change in the world's deserts, often in collaboration with other experts. The rapidly declining water levels of the Dead Sea and its associated salt deposits serve as a "natural laboratory" for many of our studies.

Research Methods:

Our research heavily relies on extensive fieldwork and observations, involving the quantification of processes through measurements, sedimentological characterization, and landscape modeling. We collaborate closely with hydrogeologists and experts in sediments, soils, and limnology. Field mapping and topographic data at various resolutions are fundamental to our research, with GIS and remote sensing techniques being essential tools for our investigations.

Research Studants: 

Haggai Eyal (PhD. Studant) 

Guy Tau (PhD. Studant) 

Maayan Harel (PhD. Studant) 

Contact Information:

yehouda.enzel@mail.huji.ac.il

The research group deals with interactions between meteorological and hydrological systems on local to global scales and looking at the past, present and future. The main emphasis is rain, surface runoff and floods, but other directions (hydrological, geomorphological, agricultural and environmental) are also covered (typically in collaboration with other researchers).

The group's research includes: understanding dominant processes and factors in the creation of extreme rainstorms leading to floods, surface runoff modeling, stream flow, floods and soil erosion; The time-space structure of rainstorms and the statistical characteristics of rain intensities; remote sensing of precipitation; development of flood warning systems; urban hydrology; climate changes and their impact on the precipitation regime, streamflow and floods; the effect of climate change on heat waves, droughts, and the development of pest populations; reconstruction of the past precipitation regime; and more.

The research approaches in the group include: development and application of models to analyze and understand systems and processes and to examine hypotheses; development and application of "weather generators" to create synthetic records with appropriate statistical properties as input to models; development, application and interpretation of machine learning models to obtain new insights on hydrological processes and more.

Research Methods:

The main research methods are the development and application of process-based models, stochastic models and machine learning models; analysis of remote sensing data (radar and satellite) and model data for spatial and temporal characterization of hydrometeorological phenomena; advanced statistical methods for frequency analysis. Databases developed in the group include calibrated rain data from meteorological radar from the 1990s until today, high-resolution meteorological models for multi-precipitation storms. In addition, there are many global and regional databases in the field of hydrometeorology.

 

Research Studants:

Talia Rosin (post-doc)
Pelagiya Belyakova (post-doc)
Omri Porat (PhD)
Elyakom Vadislavsky (PhD)
Ayana Neta (PhD in the Faculty of Agriculture, with Shai Morin and Adam Lampert)
Ziv Mor (PhD, With Nadav Lensky)
Raz Nussbaum (MSc)
Yaniv Goldschmidt (MSc, with Francesco Marra)
Atar Bar (MSc, with Tamir Kamai)
Omri Levin (MSc)
Yifat Kimchi (MSc)

 

Contact Information:

Efrat Morin | 02-6584669 | efrat.morin@mail.huji.ac.il| Room 308 south

Research Interests:

My group studies coupled physical and chemical processes, that control deformation and evolution of rocks and soils. Most of our studies involve fluid flow in porous media coupled with chemical and mechanical deformation of the matrix. We focus on how relatively small-scale processes (at the pore, grain, or asperity scale) control basic large-scale geological phenomena. Some of the physical processes we study pertain to rapid, often catastrophic, deformation: soil-liquefaction, the physics of friction, and the physics of dry and fluid-induced landslides and earthquakes. Other processes we study occur on geological time scales: coupled brittle - ductile deformation, gas migration through sediments, the creation of pockmarks on the ocean floor, and karst-cave formation. I work at the boundary between physics and geology, using mainly theoretical and numerical tools. To study grain-fluid systems, we have written a unique coupled granular-fluid code. I also use network and other numerical models. 

Ongoing projects:

1. Karst cave formation by cooling of hydrothermal flows.

2. Earthquake physics – with and without fluids. 

3. Seismically-induced soil liquefaction. 

4. Dynamic earthquake triggering. 

5. Ductile-brittle coupling: Fault formation due to lower crustal flow. 

Research Methods

Our work is usually constrained by observations: to understand the physics of a system of interest and I collaborate also with field geologists and experimentalists who provide an empirical foundation to the theoretical work.

 

Research Studants 

Pritom Sarma (PhD. Studant)

Rawi Dawood (PhD. Studant)

Daniel Caspi (PhD. Studant)

Contact Information

Einat Aharonov | Room 311 South | 972-2-65-84670 | einatah@mail.huji.ac.il

 

Ground water hydrology, Israel water resources

Research Studants 

Ohad Shalom (PhD. Studant)

Elad Benzur (PhD. Studant)

Hallel Lutzky (PhD. Studant)

Contact Information

Haim Gvirtzman | haim.gvirtzman@mail.huji.ac.il

We work to discover why droughts, pluvials, and climate extremes happen. We also work to elucidate the nature of climate across geologic time and on exoplanetary atmospheres. Our tools include data from the recent and distant past, climate models, and the best statistical techniques for the problem in front of us

Research Studants 

Niels Brall

Accoavel Sobolev

Thomas Pliemon

Namrah Habib

Contact Information 

 

Dr. Nathan Steiger | Room 303 North | nathan.steiger@mail.huji.ac.il

 

Our environment is shaped by the interaction between water and rock. This interaction has a crucial impact on a range of diverse processes, such as the way landscapes develop and erode, the spread of contaminants in groundwater, and the storage of carbon dioxide in subsurface reservoirs. In my group, we study these processes using a combination of cutting edge lab technology, state-of-the-art modeling, and field work. Current research projects include:

• Developing new methods for carbon storage
• Mitigating contaminant transport in aquifers
• Quantifying weathering in carbonate rocks

Students in my team are part of a dynamic research program that is pioneering new projects at the interface between hydrology, geology, and geochemistry. Scholarships are available for creative and talented candidates with backgrounds in Earth Sciences and Natural Sciences. 

Research Students 

Moshe Eliyahu (Lab manager) 

Dr. Rolando Carbonari (Post-doc) 

Roni Grayevsky (PhD Studant) 

Tomer Ben-David (MSc Studant) 

Hadar Kravitz (MSc Studant) 

 

Contact Details 

Simon Emmanuel | simon.emmanuel@mail.huji.ac.il 

Moshe Eliyahu | moshe.eliyahu4@mail.huji.ac.il 

The PredEx lab focuses on improving the ability to predict extreme weather events and their impacts across time and spatial scales, from regional to global and beyond.

Our work addresses the issue of weather and climate predictability from different perspectives, including physical observations, computer modeling, and mathematical/statistical theory.

Research Students

PhD Studants 

Victor Murphy 
My PhD research focuses on enhancing intrinsic predictability in numerical weather prediction by using dynamical system metrics within machine learning and artificial intelligence. The goal is to integrate these metrics into predictive models, thus extending the forecast horizon for long-term weather predictions. I am also working on a research project in the broader department called Systems Thinking in Earth and Environmental Sciences Teaching, which Professor Carynelisa Haspel is coordinating.
Email: victor.murphy@mail.huji.ac.il

Tair Plotnik

André Klif
Analyze sub-seasonal forecast models and/or climate models to better predict the
probability of occurrence of heat waves in the Middle East.
Email: andre.klif@mail.huji.ac.il

MSc Studants 

Efraim Bril
Paleo-climate: climate change in the Levant during the last interglacial period
LinkedIn profile : Efi Bril
Email: efraim.bril@mail.huji.ac.il

Margarita Mazor
Intricate relationship between weather types and the migration patterns of white storks
over the Eastern Mediterranean.
Email: Margarita.Mazor@mail.huji.ac.il 

Yuval Levin
Impact of anthropogenic emissions on the predicted precipitation regime for the Middle East
in the 21st century.
Email: yuval.levin@mail.huji.ac.il

 

Contact Us

assaf.hochman@mail.huji.ac.il |  Room 213 South