Publication

In a recent paper, Nof et al. (J Paleolimnol 35:417–439, 2006) suggest a physical mechanism which could account for the formation of ice on Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) in northern Israel. Based on the sea surface temperature record of sediment cores from the Mediterranean Sea the authors argue that centennial-scale cold events had the potential to trigger local 'springs ice' formation on the lake in the past. Here, we demonstrate that a closer inspection of the paleoceanographic record in combination with correlation and regression analyses of meteorological data provides no evidence for such cold events in the lake region during the last 10,000 years. Thus, the formation of 'springs ice' on Lake Kinneret was unlikely at least since the beginning of the Neolithic.

---

Prange, M.; Arz, H. W.; Lamy, F. (2007): Comment on 'Is there a paleolimnological explanation for 'walking on water' in the Sea of Galilee?'. Journal of Paleolimnology, 38, 4, 589-593.