Alteration of water level and salinity of the Aral Sea

The Aral Sea is the largest inland drainless water body with specific marine and lacustrine features located in the Central Asian deserts – in the Turanskaya Lowland, near the eastern edge of the Ustyurt Plateau. The water and salt budgets, the level and areal extent of the sea, the water salinity level, as well as other characteristics of the sea, are completely determined by the streamflow of Central Asia's two major rivers, the Amudarya and the Syrdarya. The amount of surface water flow into the Aral Sea depends on (a) the impacts of climate-related fluctuations of the natural water supply of these rivers and (b) on the steadily growing anthropogenic demands on the rivers' waters during the twentieth century (e.g., the consumptive withdrawals of river water mainly to meet the demands of irrigated farming).

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