Aralsk An Aral Sea, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan story
Agriculture
Dams
Water
The city of Aralsk is shown in the 1964 ARGON image on the coast of the sea. By 1977, the sea had retreated from the city but was still just a few kilometers away. As depicted in the 2015 image, Aralsk sits nearly 20 km from the water’s edge.
Commercial fishing in the Aral Sea peaked in the late 1950s. With the drop in water levels and rise in salinity, the fish that once thrived in the sea could not survive. As a result, commercial fishing was no longer sustainable by the early 1980s.
With the recovery of the North Aral, commercial fishing has started up again. It’s still just a fraction of what it was in the 1950s, but Aralsk is again processing fish at a new plant, established after the completion of the Kok-Aral Dam in 2005. Aralsk is not the thriving city it once was, but the return of the North Aral gives residents some hope of recovery.
Location
Aug. 22, 1964, ARGON KH-5 9066A — Aralsk, Kazakhstan
Sep. 1, 2, 3, 22, 1977, Landsat 2 (path/row 172–175/27–30) — Aralsk, Kazakhstan
Aug. 10, 19, 28; Sep. 27, 1987, Landsat 5 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — Aralsk, Kazakhstan
Sep. 18, 27; Oct. 27, 1998; Aug. 20, 1999, Landsat 5 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — Aralsk, Kazakhstan
July, 31; Aug. 23, 30; Sep. 1, 2006, Landsat 5 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — Aralsk, Kazakhstan
July, 24; Aug. 2, 11, 2010, Landsat 5 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — Aralsk, Kazakhstan
June 14, 16, 23; July 16, 2013, Landsat 8 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — Aralsk, Kazakhstan
Aug. 20, 29; Sep. 7, 2014, Landsat 8 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — Aralsk, Kazakhstan
Aug. 16, 23; Sep. 10, 2015, Landsat 8 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — Aralsk, Kazakhstan
Aug. 18, 20, 27, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — Aralsk, Kazakhstan
May 12, June 20, 22, 29, 2021, Landsat 8 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — Aralsk, Kazakhstan
Aral Sea, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan Additional Imagery & Stories
Islands
The name Aral means Island. The sea did once have many islands. However, many of them stopped beings islands as the sea dried up. Two of the prominent...
Kazakhstan, North Aral Sea
While the entire Aral Sea is shrinking dramatically, these images show that the northern portion of the sea, while clearly smaller than it was in 1964...
Kok-Aral Dam
The Kok-Aral Dam was completed in 2005 to control the water level of the North Aral Sea. This dam has prevented further decline of the North Aral Sea,...
Uzbekistan, South Aral Sea
Although using the dam to retain most of the water from the Syr Darya in the North Aral Sea has had beneficial results in Kazakhstan, it means the wat...
Where Is the Water?
The first question people have when seeing these images of the Aral Sea over time is, Where did the water go? The images that go along with this secti...