Lake Hamoun, Iran and Afghanistan

The Sistan Basin lies on the Iran-Afghanistan border. Melted snow from the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan nourishes this dry basin. The Helmand River carries the snowmelt across the Margo Desert and into the Sistan Basin, where the water pools into Lake Hamoun. Sometimes anyway. Lake Hamoun is seasonal, and water is generally only present during the spring melt season.

Surrounded by hundreds of kilometers of arid plains, the Sistan Basin is in one of the driest regions of the world, so the three shallow lakes that make up Hamoun naturally expand and contract in the wet to dry seasons. These lakes and wetlands once supported great plant and animal diversity. But the combination of drought and water diversion for irrigation has caused Lake Hamoun to nearly disappear, along with the local bird and fish populations.

Imagery

Nov. 14, 1976, Landsat 2 (path/row 169/38,39) — Lake Hamoun, Iran and Afghanistan

June 20, 1987, Landsat 5 (path/row 157/38,39) — Lake Hamoun, Iran and Afghanistan

June 2, 1998, Landsat 5 (path/row 157/38,39) — Lake Hamoun, Iran and Afghanistan

June 7, 2000, Landsat 5 (path/row 157/38,39) — Lake Hamoun, Iran and Afghanistan

Aug. 3, 2009, Landsat 5 (path/row 157/38,39) — Lake Hamoun, Iran and Afghanistan

July 13, 2013, Landsat 8 (path/row 157/38,39) — Lake Hamoun, Iran and Afghanistan

July 30, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 157/38,39) — Lake Hamoun, Iran and Afghanistan

July 3, 2021, Landsat 8 (path/row 157/38,39) — Lake Hamoun, Iran and Afghanistan

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United Nations Development Programme, 2008, Restoration, Protection and Sustainable Use of the Sistan Basin: International Waters Learning Exchange & Resource Network Web page at http://iwlearn.net/iw-projects/2130. (Accessed December 2, 2013.)

Weier, J., 2002, From Wetland to Wasteland—The Destruction of the Hamoun Oasis: NASA Earth Observatory, available online at http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/hamoun/. (Accessed December 2, 2013.)

World Cities, 2013, Zabol: World Cities, Encyclopedia of World Populations, available online at http://www.worldcities.us/Zabol/. (Accessed December 2, 2013.)