Dead Sea 1984-2011. Landsat satellite photo of the Dead Sea in 1984 (left) and 2011 (right). The Dead Sea is located in the Jordan Rift Valley and borders Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank. It is one of the world’s saltiest bodies of water. In recent decades, the sea has been shrinking due to diversion of water from the Jordan River, the sea’s main tributary. Mineral evaporation ponds that have replaced open water in the southern part of the sea can be seen in the 2011 image.