LIFE RETURNS TO A DEAD SEA
The Independent

The Aral Sea, located between Uzbekistan and Kazakstan, was once the fourth biggest freshwater inland sea in the world. It was a bustling resource providing a healthy livelihood for several hundred thousand people. In the 1960's the Soviet Union had a plan to use agricultural crops to boost governmental revenues. The plan called for replacing food crops with fiber crops which required more water. The plan called for damming two major rivers which supplied water to the Aral Sea. Over the past 30 years, the Aral Sea has drained to less than half of its original size.
map from cnn www.umaine.edu/.../irrigation_disastershtm


go to link for clearer image

shows pictures taken from space in 1964, 1987, 1997 and 2002
www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/CTW.html













In 2007, however, the North Aral Sea was enjoying a renaissance, due the construction of a dam in 2005 that prevents water from flowing into the South Aral Sea. This image, acquired by the MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite, shows the recovery of the Aral Sea between April 14, 2007 and April 15, 2005. A close look at the lake’s borders show a general rise in water level throughout the lake. Much of this recovery actually occurred in the first year after the dam was completed.

http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2007-05-07#