Aral Sea

The Aral Sea (Kazakh: Арал теңізі (Aral tengizi), Uzbek: Orol dengizi, Russian: Аральскοе мοре) was a lake in Central Asia. It is between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south.

Aral Sea
The Aral Sea in 1989 (left) and 2008 (right)
Location	Kazakhstan - Uzbekistan, Central Asia
Coordinates	45°N 60°E
Lake type	endorheic, natural lake, reservoir (North)
Primary  inflows	North: Syr Darya South: groundwater only (previously the Amu Darya)
Catchment  area	1,549,000 km2 (598,100 sq mi)
Basin  countries	Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
Surface area	17,160 km2 (6,626 sq mi) (2004, four lakes) 28,687 km2 (11,076 sq mi) (1998, two lakes) 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi) (1960, one lake) North: 3,300 km2 (1,270 sq mi) (2008) South: 3,500 km2 (1,350 sq mi) (2005)
Average depth	North: 8.7 m (29 ft) (2007) South: 14–15 m (46–49 ft)(2005)
Max. depth	North: 42 m (138 ft) (2008) 18 m (59 ft) (2007) 30 m (98 ft) (2003) South: 37–40 m (121–131 ft) (2005) 102 m (335 ft) (1989)
Water volume	North: 27 km3 (6 cu mi) (2007)
Surface  elevation	North: 42 m (138 ft) (2007) South: 29 m (95 ft) (2007) 53.4 m (175 ft) (1960)

Since the 1960s, the Aral Sea shrank. 90% of the sea has gone. The rivers that fed it (the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya) were used by the Soviet Union for irrigating cotton production. What is left of the Aral Sea is heavily polluted, largely as the result of weapons testing, industrial projects, and fertilizer runoff before and after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

There is a project to save at least the northern part of the Aral Sea. For this, a dam was built in the 1990 to stop water running off. Climate improved in the following years, and water levels rose again. However, that dam broke, and was rebuilt in 2005, with international funding.

Another problem was that Rebirth Island had been used for the testing of biological weapons until 1993. It is currently contaminated with anthrax, the plague, and tularemia. Since 2001, it is no longer an island, but a peninsula.

Gallery

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  Map of the Aral Sea in 1853.

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  Satellite image of the Aral Sea taken in 1985. (south at the top)

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  Satellite image of the Aral Sea taken in 1997. (south at the top)

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  2004 photo of the Aral Sea (The black lines are where it was in 1850)

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  Rebirth island (an island in the Aral Sea) joins the mainland (2000/2001)

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  North Aral Sea, comparison April 2005/2006 (showing the sea has grown)

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  Shrinking of the Aral Sea 1960-2014

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  Aral Sea Animation 2000-2011.

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  The East Aral Sea completely dries up in 2014

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  The East Aral Sea is reflooded in 2018

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  The East Aral Sea dries up again in 2021

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  A Boat on what used to be the Aral Sea

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  A Harbor off what used to be the Aral Sea

Aral Sea Media

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  The Syr Darya sturgeon (Pseudoscaphirhynchus fedtschenkoi) was a primitive species of fish possibly driven to extinction by the shrinkage of the Aral Sea.

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  The Ukrainian stickleback (Pungitius platygaster) was the only native species of the Aral Sea to survive its reduction and salinization.

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  The European flounder (Platichthys flesus) was a saltwater fish introduced to the Aral Sea.

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  The black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) was a freshwater fish introduced to the Aral Sea.

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  Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), a former dominant member of the sea's benthic fauna that has since returned to the North Aral Sea.

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  Parthenogenic brine shrimp (Artemia parthenogenetica), the dominant crustacean of the South Aral Sea and its fragments.

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  First Russian boats on the Aral Sea, watercolor by Taras Shevchenko, 1848

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  SurveyoftheSeaofAral

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  Ships of Imperial Russian Navy's Aral Flotilla in the 1850s

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  Map including the Aral Sea and surrounding region (DMA, 1979)

• Satellite images show the changing water levels in the Aral Sea from 2000 to 2018.

Other websites

Media related to Aral Sea at Wikimedia Commons