The Syr Darya and the Amu Darya cut northwest through the Kyzylkum Desert to pool in the basin that made the Aral Sea. Starting in the 1960s, the Soviet Union began diverting water to create croplands in the dry plains of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

While the irrigation project allowed for the production of cotton and other crops, the Aral sea began to deplete rapidly. A series of images published by NASA’s Earth Observatory show the rapid decline of the sea.

By 2000 the Northern Aral Sea had separated from the larger Southern Aral Sea and the southern sea had split into eastern and western parts, connected only at the ends. By 2001 the connection had been severed completely and the eastern part of the Southern Aral Sea began to retreat rapidly.

In addition to the rapid depletion, the water became increasingly salty and polluted by farm runoff. Dust from the exposed lakebed, contaminated with fertilizer and pesticides began blowing onto the farmlands. This contamination became a public health hazard and increased water demands because farmers needed to flush the soil before planting.

The loss of the moderating influence of the Aral Sea on the local climate resulted in hotter and dryer summers, decreasing the supply of water while increasing the demand for it.

In 2005 Kazakhstan built a dam between the northern and southern Aral sea, essentially condemning the southern sea to death. While the Northern Aral Sea has rebounded significantly since 2005 it has been altered substantially by the changes in sediment.