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Aral Sea

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) captured this image of the Aral Sea on April 8, 2005. The sea has been steadily shrinking for the past few decades, and one reason for the dwindling water is clear in this image. The river that feeds the sea is instead nurturing a web of agriculture to the south of the sea. It is early spring in the image, so the fields are brown, but later in the year, these crop areas will become a verdant green. The red dots within the crop area show where MODIS detected fires, probably started by farmers preparing their fields for spring planting.

The Aral Sea is also shrinking because of evaporation. Dry winds sweep across the desert, steadily drawing water from the surface of the sea. As the water evaporates, it leaves a white salt pan, revealing the former extent of the sea. Over time, the Aral Sea divided into two bodies. The Northern Aral Sea is the darker body of water on the top of the image. A sheet of white ice still covers a section of the sea. The Southern Aral Sea appears to be three bodies of water connected by narrow channels. The shallower water on the east (right) is lighter, colored with tan sediment.

The Aral Sea straddles Kazakhstan, top, and Uzbekistan, center. South of the Aral Sea, Lake Sariqamish sits on the border between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.


Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Published April 13, 2005
Data acquired April 8, 2005

Source:
Terra > MODIS
Collection:
Visible Earth