Is the Aral Sea coming back?
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Is the Aral Sea coming back?
An ambitious restoration project is bringing back fish—and fishermen—to the North Aral Sea in Kazakhstan, National Geographic reports. The Aral Sea was once one of the world’s largest freshwater lakes, supplying tens of thousands of tons of fish every year.
Can the Aral Sea be saved?
Sort of. The Aral Sea as a whole will never completely recover. The shoreline has radically changed, and the South Aral Sea remains almost completely desiccated. “In fact there are concerns that the sea is still being drained in this area by agriculture and industry, with few environmental controls.”
Why did the Aral Sea disappear?
The primary cause behind the shrinking of the Aral Sea is the diversion (for purposes of irrigation) of the main sources of inflowing water, the riverine waters of the Syr Darya (ancient Jaxartes River) in the north and the Amu Darya (ancient Oxus River) in the south, which historically discharged into the Aral Sea.
What is the present condition of the Aral Sea?
“Today, the Aral Sea does not exist,” reported The National Geographic in 2018. “There are, instead, two distinct bodies of water: the North Aral Sea (also known as the “Small Sea,” in Kazakhstan) and the South Aral Sea (in Uzbekistan). The Aral Sea as a whole will never completely recover.
Who is responsible for the Aral Sea disaster?
Soviet government
By establishing a program to promote agriculture and especially that of cotton, Soviet government led by Khrouchtchev in the 1950s deliberately deprived the Aral Sea of its two main sources of water income, which almost immediately led to less water arriving to the sea.
What did the Russians do to the Aral Sea?
By establishing a program to promote agriculture and especially that of cotton, Soviet government led by Khrouchtchev in the 1950s deliberately deprived the Aral Sea of its two main sources of water income, which almost immediately led to less water arriving to the sea.
Who is to blame for the Aral Sea?
In October 1990 Western scientists confirmed the virtual disappearance of the Aral Sea in Soviet Central Asia, formerly the fourth largest inland sea in the world. The loss of sea water was the result of 60 years of intensive agriculture and pollution by the Soviet authorities.
How did humans destroy the Aral Sea?
The Aral Sea was once one of the largest terminal lakes located in Central Asia. Its most recent desiccation began in the 1960s due to the expansion of irrigation the caused the draining of its two tributary rivers.
