Judean desert
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Landscape not far from Masada
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Location of the desert
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The Judean Desert or Desert of Judah ( Hebrew מִדְבַּר יְהוּדָה Midbar Yehuda , Arabic صحراء يهودا, DMG Ṣaḥrāʾ Yahūdā ) is a semi-desert in Israel and the West Bank . It lies between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea and extends to the northeastern Negev . It is characterized by terraces and steep slopes and ends steeply in the Jordan Valley . Numerous wadis cut through it from west to east, some of which are up to 600 meters deep.
There are many monasteries in the Judean Desert . The most famous are the monastery of St. George in Wadi Qelt and Mar Saba near Bethlehem .
Precipitation in this region varies from 600 millimeters in the Jerusalem area to around 100 millimeters in the Jordan Valley due to the rain shadow effect. A study by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found that there is an underground reservoir of water under the Judean Desert. The aquifer begins in the Judean Mountains and flows northeast towards the Dead Sea. The aquifer has an average annual volume of around 100 million cubic meters of water. Its natural outflows are for example in Ain-Feshkha and Ein Gedi .
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Coordinates: 31 ° 42 ′ 0 ″ N , 35 ° 18 ′ 0 ″ E