Aral Sea facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Aral Sea
The Aral Sea in 1989 (left) and 2008 (right)
Location	Kazakhstan - Uzbekistan, Central Asia
Coordinates	45°N 60°E
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)

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

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 the Island of Rebirth 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.

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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

Images for kids

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  1853 map of the Aral Sea

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  Aral Sea watershed with nearby countries c. 2008. Amu Darya basin in orange, Syr Darya basin in yellow

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

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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)

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  Cotton picking near Kyzyl-Kala, Karakalpakstan.

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  Cotton picking in Uzbekistan. Cotton is one of the biggest water consuming plants.

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  Aral Sea from space (north at bottom), August 1985

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  Aral Sea from space (north at bottom), August 1997

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  Aral Sea from space (north at top), August 2009

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  Aral Sea in August 2010, with part of the eastern basin reflooded from heavy snowmelt.

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  Aral Sea completely loses its eastern lobe in August 2014

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  Aral Sea from space, August 2017

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  April 2018

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  Aral Sea dust storm, March 2010

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  Abandoned ship near Aral, Kazakhstan

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  A former harbour in the city of Aral

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  Local Kazakh fisherman harvesting the day's catch