{
  "id": 28547,
  "title": "Drained Under Soviet Rule, Aral Sea Has Become a Huge Source of Emissions",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/07/17/drained-under-soviet-rule-aral-sea-has-become-a-huge-source-of",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-07-17T15:02:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yale Environment 360",
    "slug": "yale-environment-360",
    "url": "https://e360.yale.edu/digest/aral-sea-emissions"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Aral Sea, once the fourth-largest inland body of water on Earth, has been drained nearly dry by humans since the 1960s to irrigate cotton crops. This has left behind a vast and barren plain, the size of Ireland. According to new research published in the journal Science, the Aral Sea's loss has contributed significantly to climate change, emitting a staggering 748 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere between 1960 and 2022. This is equivalent to three times the annual emissions of Spain. As the lake dried up, organic matter collected on the bottom accumulated carbon, turning it from a carbon sink to a source. This is a phenomenon seen in other shrinking lakes around the world, like Lake Chad in western Africa, Bolivia's Lake Poopó, and the Caspian Sea. The Salton Sea in California and Utah's Great Salt Lake are also mentioned as other bodies of water releasing significant amounts of carbon dioxide due to this process. The research highlights the potential for these drying lakes to become a significant driver of climate change, with Marcé and his team noting that about half of the carbon dioxide is released within the first 15 years after a section of the lake is exposed. They also found that wind blowing sediment away accounts for nearly a fifth of the emissions. While the study has limitations, such as the shallow depth of sediment cores collected, the researchers plan to return with larger drills to gather more data. The findings suggest that keeping the carbon stored in these drying lakes could be equivalent to $18 billion worth of carbon credits, offering a potential solution to reverse course and mitigate further climate change.",
  "summary": "The Aral Sea sits between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and was once the fourth-largest inland body of water on Earth. For the past 60 years, though, humans have bled it nearly dry irrigating cotton crops, leaving behind a salty plain the size of Ireland. Its loss has long been seen as an ecological and humanitarian problem, but new research shows that it has also been a significant driver of climate…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}