*Result*: Sediment Resuspension Under Wind‐Driven Currents and Waves: 1D Numerical Simulations Guided by Direct Observations Along the Dead Sea Shore.

*Resuspension of fine‐grained bottom sediment under wind‐driven currents and waves is a key process in shaping nearshore environments. Commonly, resuspension is quantified for predicting the dispersion of contaminants and nutrients affecting water quality by numerical modeling and field measurements. Although a large body of research deals with this topic, unique field observations from hypersaline environments coupled with conceptual‐quantitative description of the process are lacking. Here, we present high‐resolution direct measurements of winds, waves, currents, and turbidity conducted along the Dead Sea shores and derivations of an integrated 1D‐numerical model based on mass and momentum conservation laws. Comparing the model predictions and the observations determine, for the first time, that depth‐averaged turbulent viscosity during Dead Sea storms is of order of 10−3 m2 s−1. Resuspension of bottom clay to fine sand is governed primarily by waves inducing shear stress three orders of magnitude larger than current‐induced shear stress, a ratio which is rather constant during Dead Sea storms. The observed spatiotemporal turbidity pattern is reproduced and accounts for the effect of grain‐size distributions on the lake floor. Additionally, we highlight the importance of wave‐induced resuspension as an additional source of sediment involved in the formation of thin, muddy layers that are traditionally interpreted as indicators of inflowing sediment plumes. The novelty of the manuscript lies in the combination of rare observations and modeling, which provides comprehensive physics of the studied processes, an approach that can be used in other nearshore environments of lakes or oceans. Plain Language Summary: Momentum and energy induced by wind‐driven currents and waves penetrate to the floor of nearshore environments, exerting a shear stress that results in resuspension of clay, silt, and sand. This process is key in shaping the nearshore environment and is directly related to water quality. To explore sediment resuspension, we present new observations of wind, waves, mean currents, and turbidity measured during storms along the Dead Sea shore, and then, integrate existing models to capture the main features of the process and comprehensively describe its physics. Results provide an estimate for the transport properties of the water column due to turbulence, namely the turbulent viscosity, during Dead Sea storms. The oscillatory motion of the waves governs sediment resuspension and the spatiotemporal pattern of turbidity during and between storms is captured by modeling sediment resuspension of several grain size fractions that differ in their settling velocity. We suggest that although resuspended sediment is sourced from a confined longshore strip that extends up to the wave base (∼15 m water depth), its contribution to sedimentation all over the lake should be considered in the interpretation of past sedimentary records. Key Points: Storm‐driven sediment resuspension and deposition are documented in the unique Dead Sea nearshore environmentHigh‐resolution wind, wave, current, turbidity and video observations are interpreted using 1D numerical modelingThe model reproduces resuspension‐deposition cycles under the observed environmental forcing and yields effective transport coefficients [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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