The Aral Sea - was a large, landlocked saline lake in Central Asia, located on the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Since the 1960s, the water level (and volume) of the sea began to decrease rapidly due to water diversion from the main feeder rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, for irrigation purposes. In 1989, the sea split into two bodies of water, separated by the now-dried-up Berg Strait — the Northern (Small) and Southern (Large) Aral Seas.

In 2014, the eastern part of the Southern (Large) Aral Sea completely dried up, reaching a historic minimum area of the entire sea at 7,297 km². After temporarily expanding in the spring of 2015 (to 10,780 km²), by the fall of 2015, the water surface shrank again to 8,303 km².

Currently, the majority of the Aral Sea's former area is occupied by the Aralkum Desert. Prior to the shrinking, the Aral Sea was the fourth-largest lake in the world.