Advances in Environmental Monitoring of the Caspian Sea

The paper provides a brief overview of 11 papers published in the Special Issue of Ecologica Montenegrina entitled "Advances in Environmental Monitoring of the Caspian Sea". These papers are devoted to different aspects of environmental issues of the Caspian Sea from regional climate change and dramatic sea level decline to oil pollution and algal bloom among the others. Special attention is paid to the ecologically and biologically significant marine protected areas in the Caspian Sea and the need to organize Marine Protected Areas in the region. The contributions in this special issue not only shed light on the environmental problems facing the Caspian Sea, but also emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary approaches and constant improvement of methods aimed at obtaining reliable and timely environmental data of this unique ecosystem. A combination of satellite remote sensing methods with in-situ measurements allows to improve a quality of remote sensing data via calibration and elaboration of regional algorithms. From the other side, this will improve a quality of satellite monitoring of the ecological state of whole area of the Caspian Sea which is of vital importance during a continuous decline of the sea level. The presented results further evidence the need for continuous satellite monitoring of areas subjected to ecological risks in the Caspian Sea.