The following sea has almost completely disappeared because of irrigation in the area
The Aral Sea
Step-by-step explanation:
- The Aral Sea is actually a huge lake, located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia.
- In recent decades, much of the water which used to flow into the Aral Sea has been taken for growing crops. As a result, the Aral Sea has shrunk dramatically. Nearly two-thirds of the lake has vanished since 1970.
- Once the fourth largest lake in the world, Central Asia's shrinking Aral Sea has reached a new low, thanks to decades-old water diversions for irrigation and a more recent drought.
- Satellite imagery released this week by NASA shows that the eastern basin of the freshwater body is now completely dry.
- Today, more people than ever rely on irrigation from rivers that should instead flow into the sea, and the impact of irrigation is compounded by another new factor: climate change. This makes the Aral Sea very sensitive to variations in its water balance caused either by climate or by humans.