Table Of ContentSpringer Earth System Sciences
Philip Micklin
N.V. Aladin
Igor Plotnikov Editors
The Aral Sea
The Devastation and Partial
Rehabilitation of a Great Lake
The Aral Sea
Springer Earth System Sciences
Series Editor
Philippe Blondel
For furthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/10178
Philip Micklin (Chief Editor) (cid:129)
N.V. Aladin (Associate Editor) (cid:129)
Igor Plotnikov (Associate Editor)
The Aral Sea
The Devastation and Partial Rehabilitation
of a Great Lake
Editors
PhilipMicklin(ChiefEditor) N.V.Aladin(AssociateEditor)
DepartmentofGeography IgorPlotnikov(AssociateEditor)
WesternMichiganUniversity ZoologicalInstitute
Michigan RussianAcademyofSciences
USA St.Petersburg
Russia
ISBN978-3-642-02355-2 ISBN978-3-642-02356-9(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-642-02356-9
SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
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Foreword
The Aral Sea has long been a poster child of pollution and environment degrada-
tion.Picturesofcamelsgrazingnexttoabigship’srustedhull;parchedlandwhere
asearichinfishandotherresourcesusedtobe;abandonedeconomichubsindry
harbors; dust and salt storms large enough to be visible from space ... All these
exampleshaveenteredtheconsciousnessoflaycitizensaroundtheworld,showing
howhumanactivitieshaveslowlybutsteadilydestroyedwhatwasoncearichand
productiveregion.Astheeffectsofclimatechangeareincreasinglyfeltaroundthe
world, scientists, administrators and politicians need to heed the lessons from the
AralSeaandavoidsimilar,loomingdisastersinotherregions.
This urgency has been noted in many publications, scientific and otherwise,
including the authoritative and regular reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on
ClimateChange(IPCC,http://www.ipcc.ch).Alreadyin1997,theIPCChighlighted
the importance of the Aral Sea as “a case study of the multiplicative effects of
resourceoveruse,whichcanleadtolocalenvironmentalandevenclimatechange”,
noting however there had been no integrated assessment of its natural and human
impacts.Thiscleargapisaddressedbythepresentbook,entitled“Destructionofthe
Aral Sea” and edited by experts of the Aral Sea who have spent decades of their
professionallivesmeasuringandunderstandingtheevolutionoftheAralSea.Inthe
truespiritoftheSpringerEarthSystemSciencesseries,thisbookbringstogethera
wealth of experts from seven different countries, spanning all fields from remote
sensingtofisheries,geology,zoology,biodiversityandenvironmentalmanagement
inter alia. Throughout 18 chapters, in close to 500 pages and with an extensive
bibliography, sometimes summarizing innovative and important research not pre-
viously seen in the western literature, the authors show us how the Aral Sea has
evolved, fromlong before humanintervention tothe latest years.This bookis far
fromonlyaseriesofobservationsof“theDestruction”,anditssubtitleclearlyshows
thepotentialfora“PartialRehabilitationofaGreatLake”.
Masterfullyorganizedandledbyitseditors,PhilipMicklin,NikolayV.Aladin
and Igor Plotnikov, this book consists of an introductory chapter and three parts.
Part I (Background to the Aral Problem) in three chapters provides essential
information about the Aral Sea prior to its modern desiccation that gives context
v
vi Foreword
towhathashappenedtothelakeinthemodernera.PartII(ModernRecessionof
Aral) in nine chapters covers key aspects and consequences of the shrinking Aral
Seafromtheinceptionofthisphenomenonintheearly1960suntiltoday.Thefirst
fourchaptersofPartIII(AralFuture)examinewhatmayhappentothisoncegrand
lakeanditsenvironsincomingyears,dependingprimarilyonthehumanresponse
to this disaster and showing that there is a way forward, provided clear
commitmentsandactionsonthegroundaretakensoon.Thefinalsummarychapter
includes a discussion ofthe lessons to be gleaned from the Aral experience along
withasuggestedlistofkeyresearchtopicsthatneeddeeperinvestigationinorder
foroptimalimprovementofthiswaterbody.Whathashappenedinthisregion,and
what is happeningnow, concerns usall, asglobal citizens inaworld increasingly
affectedbyclimatechangeandhumanimpacts.
Havingreadthemanychaptersofthisbookasitwasinthemaking,Ihaveseen
howtheyevolvedtoformastructuredsummaryofsuchaninternationallyimpor-
tantregion.Icanthereforeonlyrecommenditsreadingstoscientists,administrators
anddecision-makersaroundtheworld,toseehowthelessonswearelearning the
hardwayintheAralSeanow,canbeusedeverywhereinthefuture.
Bath,UK PhilippeBlondel
October2013
Acknowledgements
PhilipMicklin,ChiefEditor
MycontributiontothisbookisbasedonthreedecadesinvolvementwiththeAral
Sea issue and numerous trips to the Aral Sea region. Over these years I have
receivedhelpfrommanyindividuals,andfundingfromorganizations,intheUnited
States,SovietUnion,Russia,WesternEurope,JapanandCentralAsia,particularly
in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. I want to express my deepest thanks to these
individuals and organizations too numerous to name. Special thanks, however,
are in order to the Department of Geography, Western Michigan University,
Kalamazoo, Michigan; the NATO Science for Peace Program; the U.S. National
AcademyofSciences;theCommitteeforResearchandExplorationoftheNational
GeographicSociety;theNationalCouncilforSovietandEastEuropeanResearch;
the United Nations Environment Program; the Institutes of Geography and Water
Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow; Karakalpakstan State
University in Nukus, Karakalpakstan (Uzbekistan), and, last but not least, the
Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg.
Iwouldalsoliketoexpressmygratitudetomywife,lefttohandlefamilymatters
duringmyvisitsoverseas,sometimesforextendedperiods,inconnectionwithmy
researchontheAralSea.
NikolayAladinandIgorPlotnikov,AssociateEditors
We would like to thank all members of our Brackish Water Laboratory of the
ZoologicalInstituteofRASandallmembersoftheFisheriesLaboratoryinAralsk,
KazakhstanandallmembersoftheInternationalFundforSavingtheAralSea,all
membersofourexpeditionstotheAralSeafromRussia,Kazakhstan,Uzbekistan,
USA,Germany,UK,France,Spain,Japan,Australia,Sweden,Sloveniaandsome
other countries. A special thanks is in order to our colleagues at St-Petersburg
Pedagogic University headed by the famous botanist Lev Aleksandrovich
Kusnetsov with whom we did our studies on the Barsakelmes Island in the Aral
Sea.Wealsowouldliketothankallmembersofourfamilieswhoremainedwithout
uswhenwewereinourlonglasting,numerousexpeditionstotheAralSeaduring
the period from 1979 until 2013. Finally, we would like to remember those
vii
viii Acknowledgements
colleagues and friends who passed away and who helped us a lot in our Aral Sea
studies: Dr. Evdokiya Markova (Kazakhstan), Dr. Nikolay Vorontzov (Russia),
Dr. William Williams (Australia), Dr.William Potts (UK), Dr. Gilbert White
(USA), Dr. Tatuo Kira (Japan), and especially Dr. David Davidovich Piriulin of
ourLaboratory.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
ASBP AralSeaBasinProgramoftheWorldBank
AVHRR AdvancedVeryHighResolutionRadiometer
asl Abovesealevel
BP Beforepresent
BVO BasinWaterManagementAssociation(Authority)
ca. Approximately
cal. Calibrated
cm Centimeter
DO Dissolvedoxygen
ESA EuropeanSpaceAgency
EVI Enhancedvegetationindex
GEF Globalenvironmentalfacility
ha Hectare
ICAS InterstateCouncilontheProblemsoftheAralSeaBasin
ICWC InterstateCoordinatingWaterManagementCommission
IFAS InternationalFundforSavingtheAralSea
ka Thousandyears
km Kilometer
Landsat Landsatellite
km2 Squarekilometer
km3 Cubickilometer
l Liter
m Meter
m3 Cubicmeter
mt Metricton
MODIS ModerateResolutionImagingSpectroradiometer
NAS NorthAralSea
NATO NorthAtlanticTreatyOrganization
NAWAPA NorthAmericanWaterandPowerAlliance
NDVI Normalizeddifferencevegetationindex
RBO RiverBasinOrganization
ix
