Karakum

The SEA number density field (Cn SEA) is also rather variable. From data of complex observational programmes GAAREX and CAENEX [6, 9] Cn sea in the air surface layer of the Karakum desert (for particles with r > 0.2 Pm) constitutes 8-270 cm" . In the air surface layer (0.5-2 m) of north-eastern Kazakhstan (for particles with r > 0.2 pm) Cn averages 50-80 cm" [11]. During the Saharan aerosol outbreak across the Atlantic the values of Cn near the sea surface reached 6-40 cm" (for particles with 0.3 pm < r < 10 pm). 

Fersmann, A. Wlodawetz, N. (1926) Uber die Erscheinungen der Silicifierung in der Mittelaisatischen Wuste Karakum. Comptes Rendus de VAcademie des Sciences de VU.S.S.R. 145-8. 

Before 1960 the Aral Sea (Fig. 1) was a water-abundant sea-lake that was fourth largest in the world list of lakes after the Caspian Sea (USSR, Iran), Great Lakes (USA, Canada), and Victoria Lake in Africa. This was a real pearl among the sands of the largest deserts - Karakums and Kyzylkums. Navigation between the... 

Abstract The Aral Sea is the unique inland water body located on the border of the Central Asian major deserts - Karakum, KyzyUmm, and Plateau Usturt. Its origin dates back to the first half of the first millennium bc. It was the world s fourth water body by area after the Caspian, and the Superior and Victoria lakes. The history of its investigation spans the period from the origin to development of scientific and cartographic knowledge about the Aral Sea and from ancient times to the present. 

From 1956 considerable volumes of the Amudarya flow were transferred by the Karakum canal to arid regions of Turkmenistan. In the last years water delivery by the canal amounts to 10-11 km per year. 

Generations change and current generations only hear about the good old days in stories but may not have had first-hand experience with those days that were free of water and air pollution or days that were once relatively free of water scarcity problems in, for example, the lower reaches of the Amudarya and the Syrdarya. To a majority of the current Aral Basin population, there was always a Karakum Canal (begun in 1954) taking water out of the Amudarya. Most likely, they do not know what life was like before the canal was constmcted, except by way of history, documentaries, visits to the local museums and the reminiscence of their elders. 

Continued cotton expansion Karakum Canal completion increased diversions, dust storms,... 

Expansion of cotton production after 1950s increased use of fertilizers and pesticides building of Karakum Canal in mid-1950s... 

Type V. Central Asia (Karakum Desert, KyzyUcumy Desert) ... 

The vast area of Arid and semi-Arid ecosystems of Central and East Asia is subject to wind erosion. The major natural sources of dust emission are the Gobi desert (Xinjiang Province, Northwestern China), and the Karakum and Kazylkum deserts... 

---