The Aral Sea Encyclopedia is the first one in the new series of encyclopedias about the seas of the former Soviet Union. Preparing it we faced certain difficulties. The thing is that this encyclopedia is a monument to the sea that is disappearing during our lifetime. The world community considers the situation with the Aral Sea and all changes that occurred in its whereabouts in the recent decades as one of the most serious, if not disastrous anthropogenic environmental crises of the 20th century. Before 1960, this was a water-abundant sea-lake that was fourth among world lakes after the...

The Caspian Sea Encyclopedia is the second one in the new series of encyclo- dias about the seas of the former Soviet Union published by Springer-Verlag. The ?rst volume The Aral Sea Encyclopedia was published by Springer in 2009. The series will be continued by The Black Sea Encyclopedia in 2010. Today the Caspian Sea is known to readers thanks to its oil and gas resources, sturgeon and caviar, signi?cant sea-level variations, socio-economic and political problems. The Caucasus and Central Asia (http: //eurodialogue. org/?les/fckeditor_?les/Caspian-s- map2. png) vii viii Introduction For...