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Having a significant water surface (over 69.8 thousand km2), the Aral Sea served until the mid-1960s as a climate-regulating reservoir and softened sharp weather fluctuations in the Central Asian region. The air masses invading the region from the west warmed up in winter and cooled over the Aral Sea in summer. Due to this temperature regime, moisture, carried by air currents, fell out in the form of precipitation over the Tien Shan and Pamir mountains in the autumn-winter period, replenishing the snow reserves and the volume of glaciers. The elevation of the water surface of the Aral Sea in natural conditions was almost 80 m above the level of the Caspian Sea. It was 428 km long and 234 km wide, with a maximum depth of 69 m and a volume of 1,064 km3. The Aral Sea zone was distinguished by a unique diversity of flora and fauna, only the number of saigas reached 1 million heads, the floristic composition was 638 species of higher plants. Until 1960, the Aral Sea was the largest fishery reservoir in Central Asia with an annual catch of up to 40 thousand tons of fish (carp, sturgeon). For comparison, all reservoirs of Uzbekistan (with the exception of fish ponds) produce about 8 thousand tons of fish annually. Since 1980, the Great Aral has completely lost its fishery value. |
