Caspian Sea of around 149,200 square miles (386,400 square km)— bigger than the region of Japan—and its surface lies somewhere in the range of 90 feet (27 meters) below sea level. The sea bed in the southern part reaches as low as 1,023 m (3,356 ft) below sea level, which is the second lowest natural depression on earth after Lake Baikal (−1,180 m, −3,871 ft). The ancient inhabitants of its coast perceived the Caspian Sea as an ocean, probably because of its saltiness and large size. The sea has a surface area of 371,000 km (143,200 sq mi) (not including the detached
Weddell Sea Bottom Water region of sinking, it eventually mixes with the warmer and more saline water above to form AABW. Along the Scotia Ridge-Cape Norvegia section, potential temperature values at depths greater than range from -0.94 to -0.63 °C, while salinity values range from 34.639 to 34.652 psu. The northern limit of the core of Weddell Sea Bottom Water lies against the southern edge of the Scotia Ridge, suggesting that the circulation and property distributions are strongly influenced by bathymetry. The transport of Weddell Sea Bottom Water out of the Weddell Sea represents the outflow of newly formed bottom water plus entrained bottom