Aral Sea

Table of contents

Context (HT): Climate change is increasing the disappearance of the Aral Sea.
The Aral Sea is an endorheic lake (lake with no outlet) located in the heart of Central Asia, roughly 200 miles east of the Caspian Sea.

It is bordered by Kazakhstan on the north and Uzbekistan on the south.
It was formerly a large saltwater lake.
Once the fourth largest body of inland water in the world, it lost almost three-quarters of its volume and approximately half of its area.
It has receded into three separate lakes: the Greater Sea had divided into a long, narrow, western lake and a larger, broader, eastern lake, with the remains of the Lesser Sea to the north.
Reasons: The drying up of the Aral Sea resulted mainly from the overuse of its two main tributaries—the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya—for irrigation.

Impacts of drying of Aral Sea

Drying up of the lake caused salt concentrations of the remaining water to rise drastically which killed off the once-abundant supplies of freshwater fish & devastated regional fishing industry.
Salt and residues became airborne as dust storms blew the pollutants as far away as the Himalayas.
Annual precipitation, already low, dropped even more.
Winters became longer & colder, and summers hotter & shorter, affecting the growing season.