Hydrometeorological situation in the northwestern part of the Caspian Sea in winter 2025

 

Ice conditions have a significant impact on the abundance and distribution of aquatic biological resources and food organisms in this shallow part of the sea. At the same time, for other marine animals - the Caspian seal, the ice in the northern part of the sea is a place for the whelping grounds of this endangered species. In 2025, the process of ice formation in the northwestern part of the Caspian Sea was distinguished by significant features. Fast ice along the northwestern coast began to form only in early February. In the second half of February, a sharp change in air temperatures from positive values ​​to -10 ... -15 ° C led to the formation of ice fields in the Northern Caspian, including off the coasts of Kalmykia and Dagestan, and the advance of ice formation in the fast ice zone up to the settlement of Manas, located south of the city of Kaspiysk. Low temperatures also led to the development of ice phenomena in the inland water bodies of the flat regions of northern Dagestan. Pronounced ice phenomena in the sea shifted the start of the spring fishing season in the coastal fisheries of the Republic of Kalmykia and the Republic of Dagestan.

 

During this period, as part of the resource research plan and the research program, employees of the West Caspian Department of the Volga-Caspian Branch of the State Research Center of the Russian Federation "All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography" (VNIRO) went on a trip to collect hydrobiological material in fresh watercourses of the Republic of Dagestan, in the Terek River.

 

The material was collected near the city of Kizlyar, on the "Alikazgan" section of the Terek River, as well as in the estuary of the Terek River. A Nansen bathometer, an Apstein net, a tubular bottom grab, and a hydrobiological scraper were used to collect the material. The samples collected will be used to determine the qualitative composition and quantitative indicators of the development of phytoplankton, zooplankton and zoobenthos of the main waterway of the region - the Terek River.

 

Press Service of VNIRO