Scientists will drill the Dead Sea in order to study Climate Change.

DOSECC view of drilling on the Dead Sea, photographed on November 17, 2010. At the time of the photo equipment was ready to be towed to the location of the perforations, approximately 6 km to the northeast. 

About 40 researchers among Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians began the task of drilling the Dead Sea in search of the sediment and sludge that will reveal histories until 500,000 years ago. The samples will help to understand issues from the ancient Middle East geology, archeology to climate change on Earth.
The project that took a year to be approved by Germany will cost 2.5 million dollars and will last 40 days. The drill used in scientific research the world has the capacity to reach up to 1,500 meters deep.

The Dead Sea, actually a large lake of 402 square kilometers, is located in a valley surrounded by the West Bank, Jordan and Israel. Only do the river Jordan flows there, which causes the accumulation of sediment in the deep interior virtually intact over millions of years.
Read more about the Dead Sea and Jordan River on my post:  
 http://panchtatva-blog.blogspot.com/2010/10/sea-of-galilee-or-lake-of-galilee-is.html
The sludge withdrawn from  the Dead Sea will reveal through its layers of light and dark, ancient and recent periods of rainfall, droughts and floods and therefore the dominant climate on Earth and the effects of global warming .In the bed of the Dead Sea two layers of sediment accumulates each year.
Another interesting finding is the evidence of earthquakes where the sediment layers are not aligned.
For anthropology the study will help in the theories about the migration of primitive man, which many researchers believe have passed through the area of the Dead Sea basin.
In another aspect, the researchers want to understand the significant decrease in the lake has suffered in recent decades. The level of water it receives is slightly higher than evaporation and thus its level increases slightly. Today, we know that increasing the extraction of water from the Jordan River by Israel, Palestine and Jordan can be a major factor of it decreasing level of water.