The Director General of Environmental Protection in Mazandaran Province warned of an unprecedented drop in the Caspian Sea’s water level, pointing to the accelerating impacts of climate change on the body of water.
Young Journalists Club (YJC) reported on Thursday, August 13, quoting Mohammad-Reza Kan’ani: “Over the past two decades, the water temperature of the Caspian Sea has risen by approximately 1.5 degrees Celsius, which has led to a 10 to 15 percent increase in evaporation rates.”
According to Kan’ani, this ongoing trend has caused the Caspian Sea’s water level to “decline by about 10 to 20 centimeters annually. Under current conditions, the Caspian Sea stands at its lowest water level in nearly 200 years.”
The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest enclosed inland body of water. Its water balance is determined by the equilibrium between inflow from precipitation and rivers and outflow via evaporation.
Kan’ani identified “river inflow” and “evaporation” as the primary driving factors behind the sea’s water level, noting that rising temperatures and higher evaporation rates have pushed the Caspian’s overall water budget into a negative balance.
