Shrinking seas definition..?

Question

can anyone describe 'shrinking seas'?

Answer 1

Hello Db! I have researched this thoroughly and have come up a very good description and a prime example of a shrinking sea. Keep in mind that there are numerous factors as to why these seas are shrinking but it is a known fact that our seas are indeed shrinking. Below you will see a very well defined answer.

Over the last 40 years, the Aral Sea, once the fourth largest sea in the world, has evaporated to half its original surface area and a quarter its initial volume, leaving roughly a 36 000 square kilometers zone of dry white-colored salt terrain now called the Aralkum Desert.



As its water level has dropped 13 meters since the 1960s, the Aral Sea has actually split into two – the larger horseshoe-shaped body of water and a smaller almost unconnected lake to its north. This Small Aral Sea is the focus of international preservation efforts, but the Large Aral Sea has been judged beyond saving (the shallowness of its eastern section is clear in the image). It is expected to dry out completely by 2020.

The Aral Sea is still thought to be save-able, and several dikes have been constructed to cut it off from the Large Aral Sea – preventing water loss and salt contamination - but shifting water levels have so far defeated these efforts. The channel connecting the two should soon dry up, preserving at least the Small Aral Sea. Meanwhile researchers are studying the salty Aralkum Desert to see how best to

promote plant growth and stabilize the dusty dry lake bed.  

The decrease in water level has led to severe environmental and salt problems which have changed the climate around the sea, resulted in dust storms that spread disease, and the deaths of many species in the salty lake. This is just one of many contributing factors as too why our worlds seas are shrinking. Global Warming playing the biggest role.

The Aral sea is just one of dozens of seas that have begun to shrink over the course of the last 50 years. The Dead sea is another one.

Hope this helps....T.am