South Aral Sea

The southern remnant of the Aral Sea in Central Asia, greatly diminished by river diversions and later divided into eastern and western basins.

Amu Darya: A major Central Asian river that flows toward the Aral Sea through Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Its diversion for irrigation deprived the South Aral Sea of its principal freshwater inflow.
Aralkum Desert: A desert that formed on the exposed bed of the shrinking Aral Sea. Much of the South Aral Sea’s former seabed became part of this desert.
Vozrozhdeniya Island: An island in the Aral Sea that became connected to the mainland as water levels fell. Its changing connection to land illustrates the South Aral Sea’s retreat in the west.
Irrigation in Central Asia: The diversion of rivers and groundwater to grow crops across Central Asia. Large-scale irrigation reduced the river flows that sustained the South Aral Sea.
Aral Sea drainage basin: The inland watershed whose rivers once fed the Aral Sea. The South Aral Sea’s decline reflects changes across this wider watershed.
Aral Sea disaster: The environmental and social crisis caused by the Aral Sea’s severe shrinkage. The southern basin is a major part of this wider human-caused disaster.
Eastern Aral Sea: The shallow eastern basin of the South Aral Sea, which largely dried during the 2010s. Its near-disappearance is the clearest case of the southern remnant’s extreme shrinkage.
Soviet cotton production: The Soviet Union’s expansion of cotton cultivation, especially in Central Asia. Cotton irrigation drove major water withdrawals from the rivers feeding the southern basin.
Karakum Canal: A large irrigation canal that carries water from the Amu Darya across Turkmenistan. Its withdrawals added to the reduction of water reaching the southern basin.
Dust storm: A windstorm that lifts and transports large quantities of loose dust. Exposed southern seabed supplies salt- and pollutant-laden dust to the region.

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