Aral Sea facts for kids

Aral Sea!
The Aral Sea in 1989 (left) and 2008 (right)
Location	Kazakhstan - Uzbekistan, Central Asia
Coordinates
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 1960-2008

Images for kids

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  The map of 'Aral' Sea of 1853 published for the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society in London

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  Map: lake boundaries about 1960 with present-day political boundaries - countries with any land draining into the lake are in yellow

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  Comparison of the North Aral Sea in 2000 and 2011.

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

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  The Aral Sea in September 2011, the west basin has gained some water, and the east basin and North Aral Sea have lost water.

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  The Aral Sea completely loses Its Eastern Lobe in August 2014

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

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

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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 dust storm, March 2010

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  Abandoned ship near Aral, Kazakhstan

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  A former harbor in the city of Aral

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  Local Kazakh fisherman harvesting the day's catch