Lake · Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan
Aral Sea
The Aral Sea is a salty lake in Central Asia, shared by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In 1960 it was one of the biggest lakes on Earth, but since then it has shrunk to a small part of its old size.
Picture credit: Adam Harangozó (CC BY-SA 4.0) · User:Staecker (Public domain) · Staecker (Public domain) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Aral Sea?
Countries on its shores: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan.
Largest lake of: Uzbekistan.
Middle of the lake: 46.50° N, 60.70° E
The story behind it
In 1960 the Aral Sea covered about 68 000 km², a huge blue patch in the middle of the desert. Two rivers fed it: the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya. Then people in the Soviet Union led the river water away to fields, and the lake began to shrink. Year after year the shore moved back, and the water became saltier. In 1987 the lake split into two parts, the North Aral Sea and the South Aral Sea. The town of Moynaq once had a busy fishing harbour; today it lies 30 to 90 km from the water. Much of the dry lake bed is now a new desert called the Aralkum. But there is good news too: in 2005 Kazakhstan finished the Kokaral Dam. The North Aral Sea rose again, it became less salty, and many freshwater fish came back. Because the water level keeps changing, the size of the lake changes too.
Find it on the globe
Aral Sea is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How big is the Aral Sea?
In 2018 the North and South Aral Sea together covered about 8 300 km², and the size keeps changing with the water level. In 1960 the lake was about eight times bigger, with around 68 000 km².
Why did the Aral Sea shrink?
From the 1960s, the water of its rivers was led away to water fields in the Soviet Union. Much less water reached the lake, so it got smaller and saltier year after year.
Is the Aral Sea the largest lake in Uzbekistan?
Yes, it is the largest natural lake in Uzbekistan. Aydar Lake covers about 3 000 km², but people made it by accident: from 1969, extra water from a reservoir on the Syr Darya flowed into a dry salt pan.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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