At the current rate of global warming, the Russian part of the Caspian Sea will become shallow in 75 years.

This conclusion was reached by American, Russian and French scientists. The corresponding study is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, briefly reported by the American Geophysical Society. Every year in the period from 1996 to 2015, the water level in the Caspian Sea, according to scientists, declined by seven centimeters per year. In total for the specified time the indicator fell by about 1.4 meters, which is still one meter higher than the historical minimum recorded in the late 1970s (29 meters below sea level).

Experts predict a further decline in the water level in the Caspian Sea. Most of all, this will occur in the northern part of the lake, which falls on Russia and Kazakhstan, where the lowest depth (about five meters), complete drying of this part of the lake, while maintaining the current warming rates, is predicted in 75 years.

The reason for the drying up of the reservoir is the increase in the temperature of the near-surface layer of the atmosphere (over the past thirty years, about one degree Celsius) due to global warming.

The authors came to such conclusions by analyzing the data from the GRACE (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment) satellites and ground observations from four stations (marked with red dots on the map). The Caspian Sea is located between Europe and Asia, five countries have access to it. The reservoir covers an area of ??371 thousand square kilometers. In addition to oil, gas and salt reserves, the reservoir is a spawning ground for about 90 percent of the world's sturgeon population.

Source: ATN.