The world's largest inland body of water is disappearing, a few centimetres a year
The Caspian Sea's surface has dropped roughly two metres since the mid-1990s, and the rate of decline has been accelerating, with some recent years seeing drops of up to 30 centimetres. Scientists attribute most of the loss to rising temperatures driving faster evaporation across its drainage basin, compounded by dams reducing the flow of the Volga River that feeds it. Some projections suggest the shallow northern Caspian could largely disappear within a century if current trends continue.