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
Flight level is . In Europe, the transition altitude varies and can be as low as . There are discussions to standardize the transition altitude within the Eurocontrol area. On 25 November 2004 the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand raised New Zealand's transition altitude from and changed the transition level from FL130 to FL150. The transition level is the lowest flight level above the transition altitude. The table below shows the transition level according to transition altitude and QNH. When descending below the transition level, the pilot starts to refer to altitude of the aircraft by setting the altimeter to the