Kazakhstan, North Aral Sea An Aral Sea, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan story
Agriculture
Dams
Water
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 and 1977, is not losing water at the same rate as the South Aral. The North and South Arals became separated sometime in the 1980s. The two had been joined by the Berg Strait. By the time of the 1987 image, this strait became more of a land bridge.
In the 1990s, a dam was built to prevent North Aral water from flowing into the South Aral. It was rebuilt in 2005 and named the Kok-Aral Dam. It caused the North Aral water level to be stabilized with a lower level of salinity. Consequently, commercial fishing began to rebound.
Throughout the 2000s, the North and South Arals continued to develop as separate water bodies, and the South Aral continues to experience more drastic changes than the North Aral.
Location
Aug. 22, 1964, ARGON KH-5 9066A — North Aral Sea
Sep. 1, 2, 3, 22, 1977, Landsat 2 (path/row 172–175/27–30) — North Aral Sea
Aug. 10, 19, 28; Sep. 27, 1987, Landsat 5 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — North Aral
Sep. 18, 27; Oct. 27, 1998; Aug. 20, 1999, Landsat 5 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — North Aral Sea
July, 31; Aug. 23, 30; Sep. 1, 2006, Landsat 5 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — North Aral Sea
July, 24; Aug. 2, 11, 2010, Landsat 5 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — North Aral Sea
June 14, 16, 23; July 16, 2013, Landsat 8 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — North Aral Sea
Aug. 20, 29; Sep. 7, 2014, Landsat 8 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — North Aral Sea
Aug. 16, 23; Sep. 10, 2015, Landsat 8 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — North Aral Sea
Aug. 18, 20, 27, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — North Aral Sea
May 12, June 20, 22, 29, 2021, Landsat 8 (path/row 160–162/27–30) — North Aral Sea
Aral Sea, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan Additional Imagery & Stories
Aralsk
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 kil...
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...
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...