World of Change: the Shrinking Aral Sea

The Aral Sea was once the fourth-largest lake in the world. Fed primarily by snowmelt and precipitation flowing down from faraway mountains, it was a temperate oasis in an arid region. But in the 1960s, the Soviet Union diverted two major rivers to irrigate farmland, cutting off the inland sea from its source. The Aral Sea has been slowly disappearing ever since. These images show how the Aral Sea and its surrounding landscape has changed over the past few decades.

For more details about these images, read the full stories here:

+ World of Change: Padma River
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/aral_sea.php

+ The Aral Sea, Before the Streams Ran Dry
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/77193/the-aral-sea-before-the-streams-ran-dry

+North Aral Sea Recovery
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/7645/north-aral-sea-recovery

+The Aral Sea Loses Its Eastern Lobe
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/84437/the-aral-sea-loses-its-eastern-lobe

+New Water in the Aral Sea
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/90857/new-water-in-the-aral-sea

+Shrinking Aral Sea
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010800/a010862/index.html
Producer: Kasha Patel
Images by: Jesse Allen, Lauren Dauphin, Robert Simmon, and Joshua Stevens,
Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Видео World of Change: the Shrinking Aral Sea канала NASAEarthObservatory