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Two Centuries of Change: The Caspian Sea’s Retreat
Two hundred years ago, the city of Guryev sat on the Caspian Sea. Today it lies 35 kilometers from the shoreline — transformed from a maritime port into a river port. It’s not the city that moved; the sea has receded. The northern Caspian’s shores are so shallow that a one-centimeter drop in water level causes a visible retreat of the coastline. Since 1929 the sea has fallen about three meters!
But what’s draining the Caspian and exposing the lifeless yellow sands that once lay on the seabed?
Over the past century the region has warmed, reducing precipitation over the Caspian and its surrounding areas and decreasing river inflow.
The Caspian Sea receives 402 cubic kilometers of water but evaporates 414 cubic kilometers each year.
