The Aral Sea is an endorheic inland sea in Central Asia; it lies between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan in the south.
The Aral Sea is badly polluted, largely as the result of weapons testing, industrial projects, and fertilizer runoff before the breakup of the Soviet Union.
In 1960, the Aral Sea was the world's fourth-largest lake, with an area of approximately 68,000 km² (volume: 1100 km³); by 1998, it had dropped to 28,687 km², and eighth-largest.
The Aral Sea is situated in the large lowlands of Turan, in the Karakum and Kyzylkum deserts.
The pollution effect is aggravated by the fact that the Aral Sea is situated on the "highway" where strong currents of air are blowing from the West to the East.
The other dangerous consequence of desiccation of the Aral Sea is a continuing degradation of mountain glaciers of the Himalayas, the Pamirs, the Tien Shan and the Altais, which are feeding the Syrdarya and the Amudarya rivers with vivifying moisture.
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