Environmental impacts of fish cage cultures in the southern Caspian Sea.

In the last two decades, cage culture industries have developed in Iranian seas, supplying a portion of the needed protein and contributing to food security. In this paper, environmental impacts of cage culture are investigated, focusing on the physical, hydrodynamical, chemical, geological, and biological oceanographic aspects at the Abbas Abad fish farm in the southern Caspian Sea. Multidisciplinary field measurements were conducted from fall 2018 to late summer 2019 in different oceanographic aspects.

Satellite-Based Monitoring of Eutrophication in the Earth's Largest Transboundary Lake.

The world's large lakes and their life-supporting services are rapidly threatened by eutrophication in the warming climate during the Anthropocene. Here, MODIS-Aqua level 3 chlorophyll- data (2018-2021) were used to monitor trophic state in our planet's largest lake, that is, the Caspian Sea that accounts for approximately 40% of the total lacustrine waters on Earth. We also used the in situ measurements of chlorophyll- data (2009-2019) to further verify the accuracy of the data derived from the MODIS-Aqua and to explore the deep chlorophyll- maxima (DCMs) in the south Caspian Sea.

Tracking of sea level impact on Caspian Ramsar sites and potential restoration of the Gorgan Bay on the southeast Caspian coast.

The situation of Ramsar sites along the Caspian Sea coast has deteriorated over the past decades, and this is more noticeable in the narrow coastal strip of the south Caspian Sea. In this study we investigate how the Caspian Sea level changes affect the coastal Ramsar sites. Particularly, we focus on the Gorgan Bay in the southeast corner of the Caspian Sea, which is experiencing extensive water level decline, even desiccation.

Climate change: A driver of future conflicts in the Persian Gulf Region?

Ongoing global change and its direct environmental impacts, in addition to securing economic transition to the post-oil era, could trigger complex socio-economic and political crises in oil-dependent economies of the Persian Gulf Region (PGR). To evaluate the role of climate change and related policies in degrading the environment and its socio-economic impacts in the PGR, we have used a variety of available global datasets and published data. The results show that the countries of the PGR pursue some types of socio-economic reforms to alleviate the impacts of climate change.