During an experiment conducted by researchers from the University of Haifa, half of the annual rainfall was artificially dumped over a cave in Nahal Oren in Carmel. The purpose of the experiment was to test the way rainwater seeps into the groundwater in Carmel
Heavy rain unexpectedly flooded a cave in Nahal Oran in Carmel. This is an experiment by researchers from the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Haifa in collaboration with a number of other bodies such as the Haifa Fire Department, "Mekorot" and the Nature Reserves and Gardens Authority, during which half of the annual rainfall was artificially rained over a cave in Nahal Oren in Carmel.
The purpose of the experiment was to test the way rainwater seeps into the groundwater in Carmel.
The multi-participant experiment included, as mentioned, researchers from the University of Haifa, researchers from the University of Freiburg in Germany, researchers from the Hebrew University together with the members of the fire department who very successfully undertook the complex logistics of supplying the water for the experiment and Mekorot, which provided an amount of water equal to approximately 270 mm (about half the annual amount of precipitation in the lower Carmel). Haifa firefighters raised the water with the help of fire engines to the roof of the cave which is at a height of 100 m and provided pressure to create the artificial rain. The cave itself is about 30 m below the throwing area.
The water was marked by a special substance so that it could be tracked. At the end of two days of an artificial "flood", the researchers found the marked water dripping from the tips of the cave that started dripping again after the summer break, which indicated that the experiment was successful. "This was part of the goals of the experiment, since we cannot know the percolation paths and the percolation time of the water. Now we can calculate whether the water seeped through cracks in the rock or through the ground, in what form and at what rate the water seeped, and of course, what materials the water collected on its way from the ground," said Dr. Noam Greenbaum from the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Haifa, who led the experiment.
Now all that remains is to wait for the results of the experiment and, of course, for the real rain to come.
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Why don't they rain all over the country like this?
Generally, types of rhodamine are used, which are made up of aromatic rings with nitrogen bonds between them, there are rhodamine colors that are known to be very toxic, and there are those that are much, much less.
I hope that the added substance is not toxic and breaks down quickly, it's a shame to pollute groundwater like that..