The seasonal means of atmospheric and surface ocean indicators of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) revealed near-neutral conditions prevailed in the Pacific basin during austral winter 1999. The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) remained near zero, while the tropical Pacific sea-surface temperatures (SSTs), while on the cool side of climatology, were predominantly within 0.5°C of the mean...

Russia after the collapsing of Soviet Union ignored and left behind the Caspian Sea for a short time due to giving preference to relationship with West. Discovery of new sources of energy in the Caspian region and the significance of the geopolitical position of this region in Europe, Asia and the Middle East and the key role that plays in the power balances in the world, also West attention sp...

Abstract This article studies the discoid Didacna sp. shell beads discovered at Kaylu, a Middle Holocene burial site located in Southern Turkmenistan. Microscopic, morphometric, spectrometric, and SEM analyses were carried out on material to identify how manufactured used. New radiocarbon dating bioanthropological data age sex two skeletons burials are provided. A regional synthesis shows that ...

Thousands of Caspian seals (Phoca caspica) died in the Caspian Sea from April to August 2000. Lesions characteristic of morbillivirus infection were found in tissue specimens from dead seals. Canine distemper virus infection was identified by serologic examination, reverse transcriptase- polymerase chain reaction, and sequencing of selected P gene fragments. These results implicate canine diste...

The relationships and the zoogeography of the three extant pinniped families, Otariidae (sea lions and fur seals), Odobenidae (one extant species, the walrus), and Phocidae (true seals), have been contentious. Here, we address these topics in a molecular study that includes all extant species of true seals and sea lions, four fur seals and the walrus. Contrary to prevailing morphological views ...

BACKGROUND Cancer is a major public health problem in the world. In Iran especially after a transition to a dynamic and urban community, the pattern of cancer has changed significantly. An important change occurred regarding the incidence of cancer at the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, including Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan province. This study was designed it investigate the epidemiolog...

Kouraev et al. 2003: Polar Research 22(1), 43–50 A stable and strong ice cover forms during winter months in the Aral Sea and northern part of the Caspian Sea. The presence of ice cover negatively affects navigation and fi shery condi tions and endangers facilities located on the coast as well as on the shelf, such as oil rigs that have recently been installed in the northern Caspian by Russia ...

The Caspian seal (Pusa caspica) has declined by more than 90% since 1900 and is listed as endangered by IUCN. We made the first quantitative assessment of Caspian seal by-catch mortality in fisheries in the north Caspian Sea by conducting semi-structured interviews in fishing communities along the coasts of Russia (Kalmykia, Dagestan), Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. We recorded a documented minim...

 Mahisefid, Rutilus frisii kutum , is a cyprinid fish which is distributed from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan along the Caspian Sea. It is one of the economically important fish in the region. As part of the Iranian Fisheries Company’s policy to improve the stocks of this species, every year, fingerling of Mahisefid are released into the southern basin of the Caspian Sea. The main objective of thi...