The Caspian Sea

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz; MODIS team; NASA, Posted on: Thursday, 13 March 2008, 06:32 CDT Download full size image

The MODIS on the Aqua satellite captured this image of the Caspian Sea, on March 5, 2008. The Caspian Sea is bordered many countries including (clockwise from the upper left): Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains run along the Russia/Azerbaijan border near the Caspian Sea. Further west, the Caucasus Mountain also run through Georgia.

The red dots near the top of the image are the locations of active fires in the region.

An interesting feature is the Garabogazkol (also known asthe Kara-Bogaz-Gol), which is a bay on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea in Turkmenistan, separated from the Sea by a sand bar. Its water volume fluctuates seasonally. The water is very salty, much more so than the Caspian Sea, and has almost no marine life vegetation.

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