Гибель Аральского моря. 1987 год Документальный фильм СССР

Before its desiccation, the Aral Sea was the fourth-largest lake in the world after the Caspian Sea, Lake Superior (North America), and Lake Victoria (Africa). The degradation of the Aral Sea began in the 1960s, when most of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers' runoff was diverted through a system of canals for irrigation and agricultural purposes in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and southern Kazakhstan as part of Stalin's plan to transform nature. As a result, the sea retreated significantly from its shores, exposing a seabed coated with sea salts laced with pesticides and other chemicals [source not specified for 266 days]. Between 1961 and 2007, the Aral Sea lost approximately 1,000 cubic kilometers of water to evaporation. In 1989, the sea split into two isolated bodies of water—the Northern (Small) and Southern (Big). In 2003, the Aral Sea's surface area was approximately a quarter of its original size, and its water volume was approximately 10%. By the early 2000s, the absolute water level in the sea had dropped to 31 meters, 22 meters below the initial level observed in the late 1950s. 2011 was a drier year for the Aral Sea basin than 2010. The Amu Darya Delta dried up, and all three southern segments of the Greater Aral Sea (and especially the eastern basin) also significantly decreased in size. Cut off from the Greater Aral Sea by a dam, the Small Aral Sea is more stable, but its area also decreased in 2011 compared to 2010.[1] In 2012, the Aral Sea's surface area fluctuated significantly depending on the season: in the summer, the Eastern Aral Sea expanded significantly, only to become shallow again in the fall [source not specified for 1733 days]. In August 2014, the eastern part of the Greater Aral Sea completely dried up.[2][3][4][5] However, in subsequent years, it refilled, although its level (and surface area) decreased significantly from spring to summer.[6][7] The highest levels and surface areas of the eastern Greater Aral Sea were recorded in the summer of 2017; judging by the images, water began flowing not only from the Syr Darya, but also from the Amu Darya.[8] Environmental Consequences The climate in the Aral Sea region (above the former waters and within a radius of 50-100 km) has become more continental and arid. In the narrow coastal strip (up to 30 km from the former shoreline), winters have become colder (by 1-3 degrees Celsius). The Aralkum sand and salt desert has formed on the site of the retreating seabed. During strong winds (which are observed in this region 30-50 days a year), intense dust storms develop over the dried seabed. The dust plume reaches 200-300 km in length and, depending on wind direction, reaches cities such as Kyzylorda, Baikonur, Shalkar, Nukus, etc., manifesting as a whitish haze that reduces air transparency (visibility). Since salt deposits on the dry seabed contain large quantities of chemical fertilizers and pesticides (used in agriculture and washed from fields into rivers and then into the sea), inhaling such air can negatively affect the health of people and animals in these regions. Every year, up to 75 million tons of salt are lifted from the bottom of the Aral Sea by the winds[