Infographic showing the effects of water level change in the Caspian Sea area. (Naturalis)
German and Dutch scientists say the water level of the Caspian Sea, a land-locked lake with very salty water straddling Europe and Asia, has been dropping several centimeters per year since the 1990s. But that decline is accelerating at a pace that puts the 100 million residents in countries ringing the Caspian Sea at risk, according to a study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
“If the North Sea would drop two or three meters, access to ports like Rotterdam, Hamburg and London would be impeded,” warned Dutch geologist Frank Wesselingh of the Utrecht University. “Fishing boats and container giants alike would struggle, and all the countries on the North Sea would have a huge problem.”