Shocking Photos from NASA Show How The Aral Sea Dried Up

NASA's Earth Observatory has released images, captured by its satellite, showing how the once world's fourth-largest lake ,The Aral Sea, disappeared.

The Aral Sea once became the fourth largest inland body of water in the world. Caspian Sea, being first on the list, followed by Lake Superior and Lake Victoria.

The Lake's recession in just a matter of 14 years is very dramatic. Starting in year 2000, NASA showed photos of The Aral Sea slowly drying up. In 2014, you'll noticeably see a very big part of the lake turned into a desert.

(Year 2000) Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

(Year 2014) Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

The two rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, are the water resources of this Lake before the 1960's. Then when the Soviet Union undertook a major water diversion project on the arid plains of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, it was then unknown that such project which aims to boost agriculture in the region will result to this disaster dubbed as “the quiet Chernobyl” in decades time.

Slowly and even unnoticed then, the lake began to recede due to the loss of its water source for replenishing. Hence, its salinity levels began to rise. As the land surrounding the lake were converted from pastures to cotton fields, fertilizers and chemical runoff contaminated the lake bed. Later on, the lake bed became exposed and winds blew the contaminated soil onto the surrounding croplands, meaning even more water was needed to make the land suitable for agriculture, according to an Earth Observatory release.

This falling of water levels changed the local climate, too. Without the lake water to moderate temperatures, winters became colder and summers hotter, the Earth Observatory said.

Source(s): You Tube, CNN, NASA Earth Observatory, Fox News