In connection with the implementation of the "National Strategy for the Efficient Use of Water Resources", the Institute of Geography named after acad. H. Aliyev of the MSE AR organized an expedition to study changes in the landscape and environmental conditions of coastal areas and assess the long-term impact of climate change on the water level in the Caspian Sea.
The staff of the Institute's "Landscape Science and Landscape Planning" department - head of the department, PhD in Geography Mirnukh Ismayilov, leading researcher, PhD in Geography Saida Zeynalova and researcher Emil Jabrayilov - conducted research in the coastal areas of Masalli, Neftchala, Lankaran and Astara districts.
The main objective of the investigation was a comprehensive study of the development trends of natural and anthropogenic ecosystems in the context of climate change, the structural and functional characteristics of these systems and ecogeochemical conditions, as well as conducting large-scale (1:100,000) landscape and environmental digital mapping. Analysis of the preliminary research results showed that, depending on the geomorphological structure of coastal areas, the retreat of the coastline as a result of falling sea levels occurs with varying intensity. From the city of Astara to the village of Goyshaban, the retreat of the coast was weaker and varied from 40-50 meters to 200-300 meters.
The most significant coastal retreat was observed in the area of the Gizilagach Bay. Here, the coast retreated by an average of 250-300 meters per year, and ecosystems in large areas switched to a continental regime. In these areas, brackish-salty and brackish semi-deserts gradually give way to brackish-water and brackish ecosystems, starting from the coast inland. Sara Island expanded by 2.5 km to the east, and more than half of the surface of Bala Kizilagach Bay is covered with algae, as a result of which the water quality became unsuitable for the development of marine life and the aquatic ecosystem was disrupted. On the coast of Neftchala-Alat, the most dramatic landscape and ecological changes are observed in Goltug Bay, where the sea retreated by 1.5-2 km.
Currently, office studies of plant, rock and soil samples collected for the assessment of ecogeochemical conditions are ongoing.
The observed trends in the dynamics of ecosystems that have switched to a continental regime as a result of the sea retreat are of a regular nature, changing from south to north and inland parallel to the coast. An assessment of the impact of sea level decline on anthropogenic ecosystems was also conducted.
Based on the obtained indicators, a database was created for grouping ecosystems of the Alyat-Astara coast and conducting the corresponding landscape-ecological zoning.
Ecosystems of rivers flowing into the sea are also subject to differentiated disturbances due to climate change. The most critical situation is currently observed in the Kura River. At the same time, studies of newly discovered diogenes in the mountainous areas of the coastal zone are ongoing. Currently, office studies of materials collected in the field are ongoing. Diogenes is a rare rock specimen formed under its own chemical, physical and biological conditions and was first discovered in this region of Azerbaijan.
