Aral Sea shrinks 90% since 1960s: NASA satellite images show ecological disaster

This timelapse of satellite imagery from NASA's Landsat program reveals the catastrophic shrinkage of the Aral Sea from the 1960s to present day. Once the world's fourth-largest lake, it has lost approximately 90% of its volume due to Soviet-era irrigation diversion. The exposed dry seabed has created one of the planet's most severe anthropogenic environmental disasters.