Which lake is the largest remnant of the former Aral Sea?

The North Aral Sea is the largest remnant of the former Aral Sea.

The Aral Sea once ranked among the world’s largest inland lakes, but irrigation diversions from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers caused a dramatic twentieth-century decline. By the early 2000s, the water body had split into separate northern and southern remnants.

The North Aral Sea lies mainly in Kazakhstan. The Kok-Aral Dam, completed in 2005 with international support, helped retain water in the northern basin and raised its level compared with the years immediately before the project. Fish populations and local fishing activity partially recovered.

The southern remnants in Uzbekistan suffered much greater shrinkage. “Aral Sea” therefore describes a former connected lake, while the North Aral Sea is the surviving northern water body stabilized by the dam.