Vivian Chen- The Aral Sea by Vivian Chen

The Aral Sea

77678_1 — 2025-01-14 17:42:32 UTC

When: The Aral Sea started to shrink in 1960 and fully dried up in 2014. It lost 90% of the water.

The Kok-Aral Dam was built in 2005 to prevent the water from flowing from the North section to the lower south section. It was ineffective.

Impacts on the enviornment: Fertilizers and pesticides contaminated the Aral Sea.

Impacts on the Environment

77678_1 — 2025-01-14 17:52:26 UTC

Before the Aral Sea dried, it softened strong winds in the winter and cooled the air in the summer.
Salinity(salt levels) increased as the Aral Sea dried. There is 100 grams per liter today. That is similar to a water bottle with 1/2 cup of salt.
The Aral Sea drying led to hotter summers, large dust storms, less rainfall, salt ending up in soil, and colder winters.
2012 Evaporation rate 1700mm, rainfall 236mm
Today: There is only 4 inches of rainfall near the Aral Sea each year
Several species such as carp died, leading to a decline in the fishing industry.
Dry air can cause water deficiency, high CO2, and high temperature which leads to less crops. There was less grass for the cattle to eat.

Impacts on People and Profit

77678_1 — 2025-01-14 17:54:24 UTC

The Aral Sea impacted people and profit because there was less fish to eat and sell. Dust from the dried sea blew and decreased soil quality.
40 million people live in the Aral Sea basin
The contaminated soil from pesticides and fertilizers led to health problems such as anemia, throat cancers, kidney diseases, and high infant death rates
Decreased drinking water from less water in rivers led to water shortages, and increased tuberculosis.

What

77678_1 — 2025-01-14 17:55:50 UTC

What: The Aral Sea drying was caused by Soviet Union officials by connecting the Amu Darya and Syr Darva rivers to irrigate farm lands.

Cotton farming was a major cause.

Climate change contributed because it increases evaporation rates.

World Map

77678_1 — 2025-01-14 17:59:13 UTC

The Aral Sea is located in Central Asia near Kazakstan and Uzbekistan.

Impacts on Youth

77678_1 — 2025-01-14 18:16:06 UTC

The chemicals led to stunting growth in children, toxic waste waters, and diseases such as anemia.
The child morality rate is 75 children per 1000 nearly born in the Karakalpakstan region
83% of Tajisktan's population experienced poverty by 1991

Sea Creature Extinctions

77678_1 — 2025-01-14 18:20:28 UTC

20 sea creatures from the Aral Sea became extinct by 1983.

Some Aral Sea creatures were the Zebra Mussel, Aral Trout, Ide fish, and several fish species.

What can we do?

77678_1 — 2025-01-14 18:23:01 UTC

We can reduce bodies of water from drying up by

Recycling cotton to reduce water use
Sustainable cotton that uses less water
Ecocentric and Anthropocentric- Limiting pesticide use, making laws to limit pesticides
Anthropocentric- Making laws to reduce water diversion by not connecting rivers to large bodies of water, reducing irrigation from lakes
Technocentric- Sustainable farming such as vertical farming, hydrophonic farming(farming without soil)
Ecocentric- Buying used clothes

Why is this event important to environmental history?

77678_1 — 2025-01-14 18:25:39 UTC

The Aral Sea drying is important for history because it had devestating effects on the fishing industry, people, the enviornment, and impacted the climate.

The Aral Sea can never be fully restored.

Link to over time drying:

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/AralSea#:~:text=In%20a%20last%2Dditch%20effort,the%20lower%2Delevation%20South%20Aral.

Point of View

77678_1 — 2025-01-14 18:41:41 UTC

The Aral Sea drying up changed peoples views about the enviornment by helping them be more aware of personal choices, making laws, and becoming more aware of impacts on the Triple Bottom Line.

This changed our responsibilites through making people think of solutions to prevent similar disasters from happening.

2 Interesting Facts

77678_1 — 2025-01-14 18:47:28 UTC

The Aral Sea was the 4th largest inland body of water in the world. It was a large saltwater lake. 26,300 square miles. That is about 462,880 football fields.
The Aral Migratory Traut was a brown trout that is most likely extinct.

Zoomed in Map

77678_1 — 2025-01-15 17:40:09 UTC