How Aral Sea changed in 32 years
8 regions of the Earth that cause the most fears of environmentalists are highlighted on the map. Among them are the Aral Sea, melting of glaciers in Alaska, disappearing Amazon rainforest, and others.
The Aral Sea is an endorheic lake lying between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Since the 60's, the sea level (and the volume of water in it), has been decreasing rapidly due to diversion of waters of its main supply rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya. Prior to the shallowing, the Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world.
The data which researchers obtained using the radiocarbon dating show that the Aral Sea appeared 20-24 thousand years ago.
During his visit to Aral region on March 31 to April 2, 2016, US Consul General Mark Moody noted the significant progress in the reconstruction of the northern part of the Aral Sea.
Google has also published some of the most impressive time-lapse shots on YouTube, showing cities growth, glaciers melting etc.
Timelapse was launched in 2013. The Landsat project supervised by the US Geological Survey and NASA provided satellite images of the planet it took since the late 70's. Google started working on the project in 2009, and has already processed over 5 million photos.