It May Be Too Late to Save The World's Largest Lake From Climate Change 26 DECEMBER 2020 Most people know the world's oceans are on the rise, but further inland, the scales of climate change are tipping in the exact opposite direction. As melting glaciers feed fresh water to the oceans, heat and drought are draining our lakes and inland seas of precious liquid.
The largest inland body of water on Earth, the Caspian Sea, is on a particularly precipitous decline, according to a new study published in Communications Earth & Environment. Scientists are now warning this salty body of water will fall between 9 and 18 metres (30 and 59 feet) by the end of the century, if emissions continue to rise. A decline of that magnitude would evaporate nearly the entire northern Caspian shelf and some of the Turkmen shelf to the southeast. The eastern margin would be "completely desiccated", say researchers.