The drying of one of the world’s largest lakes is among the greatest human-made disasters to ever impact the Earth’s surface.

"For the first time in modern history, the eastern basin of the South Aral Sea has completely dried," NASA says, citing satellite photos from 2000 and 2014. Accessibility links.

In 2000 (left), Asia's Aral Sea had already shrunk to a fraction of its 1960 extent (black line). Further irrigation and dry conditions in 2014 (right) caused the sea's eastern lobe to completely ...

The Aral Sea—a huge part of it at least—is no more. According to NASA, “for the first time in modern history, the eastern basin of the South Aral Sea has completely dried.”. Humans have ...

Meanwhile, there are some projects to try to save the deeper western basin of the Aral Sea from vanishing entirely. But it’s unlikely the lake will ever return to what it was before the 1950s.

And the International Innovation Center for Aral Sea Basin, a government agency in the region, is growing hardy plants in soil collected from the former lakebed. This data isn’t just useful for ...

Aral Sea from space (Image: NASA) The environmental legacy of the Soviet Union President Tokayev of Kazakhstan has emphasised the need for decisive measures to effectively use the water resources ...

Aral Sea from space (Image: NASA) The environmental legacy of the Soviet Union President Tokayev of Kazakhstan has emphasised the need for decisive measures to effectively use the water resources ...