What is the meaning of Aral Sea?
The name roughly translates as “Sea of Islands”, referring to over 1,100 islands that had dotted its waters. In the Mongolic and Turkic languages aral means “island, archipelago”.
What caused Aral Sea to shrink?
Once the fourth largest lake in the world, Central Asia’s shrinking Aral Sea has reached a new low, thanks to decades-old water diversions for irrigation and a more recent drought. The Aral Sea was fed by two of Central Asia’s mightiest rivers, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya.
What happened at the Aral Sea?
With rainfall composing only one-fifth of the lake’s water supply, the Aral Sea began shrinking rapidly from the 1960s. Over the course of four decades, the basin decreased to a tenth of its original size, ultimately almost splitting into a northern section on the Kazakh side and a southern section on the Uzbek side.
What is unique about the Aral Sea?
One of the most interesting Aral Sea facts is, it is an endorheic basin. An endorheic basin is a drainage basin that usually holds water and requires zero drainage to other natural water sources, such as rivers or oceans but often converges into permanent or seasonal lakes or swamps that balance through evaporation.
Where is the Aral Sea?
Mimicking the shape of a splintered number eight, the North Aral Sea – the top half of the body of water – lies in Kazakhstan. The South Aral Sea, which consist of a strip of water in the west and a dried-out basin in the east, sits in Uzbekistan.
How did humans impact the Aral Sea?
Climate change mainly affects the Aral Sea by changing the upstream runoff and the evapotranspiration of the basin. Human activities mainly include the water withdrawal for agriculture, industry and municipal in the basin, of which agriculture is the largest water-consuming sector.
How does the Aral Sea affect the environment?
The change in water quality in the Aral Sea basin reduced the number of fish in the river and in the sea, and destroyed most of fauna (2,3). International experts confirm that most water sources in Karakalpakstan are polluted, and that the pollution is mainly caused by the agro-industry and mining industries.
What are the effects of Aral Sea disaster?
The primary effect of the Aral Sea desiccation has been the significant loss of water in the sea. The water level has dropped approximately 23 meters since the onset of its primary sources of water being diverted (Zavialov 2005).
What is being done to help the Aral Sea?
In 2017 the Government launched an initiative for a United Nations Multilateral Trust Fund for the Development of the Aral Sea Region and currently works to plant around two million hectares of new plantations and forests, and claim back the land from the desert.
What animals live in the Aral Sea?
Two dozen species thrived in its waters, including caviar-rich sturgeon, pike perch, and silver carp, known locally as fat tongue. The sea spread over more than 26,000 square miles, and ships could travel 250 miles from the northern port of Aralsk, in Kazakhstan, to the southern harbor of Muynak in Uzbekistan.
What is the meaning of Aaral?
Meaning of Aaral: Name Aaral in the Indian origin, means the one as beautiful as a flower. People with name Aaral are usually Hindu by religion.
What is the problem with the Aral Sea?
The Aral Sea region is heavily polluted, with consequent serious public health problems . UNESCO has added historical documents concerning the Aral Sea to its Memory of the World Register as a resource to study the environmental tragedy. The Amu Darya river flowed into the Caspian Sea via the Uzboy channel until the Holocene.
What continent does the Aral Sea belong to?
Aral Sea, Kazakh Aral Tengizi, Uzbek Orol Dengizi, a once-large saltwater lake of Central Asia. It straddles the boundary between Kazakhstan to the north and Uzbekistan to the south.
Is the Aral Sea an inland sea?
Beginning of the catastrophe. The Aral sea region, which was, according to historical documents, inhabited by desert nomads and used to support a booming fishing industry in the region. In the 20th century, the Aral Sea was reported to be the world’s fourth-largest inland water body with an approximate area of 68 000 sq.km.
What does Aral stand for?
What does ARAL stand for? ARAL stands for Association to Repeal Abortion Laws (est. 1968)