Expired News - Beautiful satellite image of the Aral Sea has a sad story behind it - The Weather Network
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Beautiful satellite image of the Aral Sea has a sad story behind it


Cheryl Santa Maria
Digital Reporter

Monday, March 30, 2015, 6:45 PM - A stunning image taken by the European Space Agency's (ESA) radar satellites has the Aral Sea looking like an abstract painting -- but don't let the gorgeous colours fool you: There's a sad story behind this image.

The photo was created by combining three radar scans, taken last October (represented by red colours), December (green) and February (blue).

It was published by the ESA last week.

"The Aral Sea is a striking example of humankind’s impact on the environment and natural resources," The ESA says on its website.

"Once the world’s fourth-largest inland water body, it has lost around 90% of its water volume since 1960 because of Soviet-era irrigation schemes."


RELATED: NASA video shows 18 different satellites of Earth, all at the same time


Southern sections of the Aral Sea are considered to be beyond repair and are forecast to dry out completely by 2020. The evaporating water has left behind a terrain of white salt that's now referred to as the Aral Karakum Desert. 

"Each year violent sandstorms pick up salt and sand from the desert and transport it across hundreds of kilometres, causing severe health problems for the local population and making regional winters colder and summers hotter," the ESA says.

Chemicals left behind from weapons testing, fertilizer runoff and industrial pursuits litter the land, located on the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Environmental degradation has collapsed a once-thriving fishing industry that used to employ thousands of people.

The World Bank and Kazakhstan has collaborated to build a dyke to stabilize what's left of the northern portion of the sea.

RELATED VIDEO: EAST ASIA, AS SEEN FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION:

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