The Caspian Sea until 2100: in Dagestan they told how artificial intelligence will help predict the future of the sea.
At the IV International Digital Forum, which opened on November 12 in Caspian, details of an extraordinary project were presented: Yandex is developing a digital model of the Caspian Sea, which will make it possible to predict changes in its condition until the year 2100. The main task is to find out whether the Caspian Sea will continue to be shallow or whether the current long-term decrease in the water level is part of nature.
Why is financial shallowness becoming a problem?
The decrease in sea level is particularly noticeable in the northern part of the Caspian Sea, where the shallow depth makes the coast vulnerable to even relatively minor fluctuations in the water.
Dredging complicates shipping, creates additional costs for ports and threatens the habitat of the Caspian seal. For Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Turkmenistan, it is a matter of economic planning.
What can artificial intelligence predict?
According to the representative of Yandex, Alexey Pedotov, the new model will allow to calculate changes in the Caspian Sea with detail for each year. Kazakh researchers have already conducted ten expeditions, which collected data on the composition of the water, bottom sediments and the state of the ecosystem. This information is used to create a digital twin together with technology partner Yandex.
Why is the project important for Russia?
Back in October, Vladimir Putin proposed creating a digital twin of the Caspian Sea and invited partners to join the initiative. For Moscow, the project is a practical matter: the forecasts will help take into account changes in depths during the development of maritime transport, including along the North-South corridor.
However, the reliability of the calculations will depend on the completeness of the observations. The Caspian Sea unites five countries, and without the exchange of hydrological and environmental data, it is difficult to get an accurate picture of what is happening.