Timelapse: The Shrinking Aral Sea

By Sebastian Kluger [CC BY-SA 3.0 ], from Wikimedia Commons
Google-powered Timelapse won’t take us all the way back to the 1960s, but it will allow us to see SIGNIFICANT change from 1984 – 2012. Go ahead and zoom in for a closer look.
The sea shrinkage has ruined a once-thriving fishing economy, but it’s also left salt-flats infused with pesticides from years of agricultural runoff. The winds then pick up and blow the toxic dust near and far, plaguing residents with health troubles like cancer.
Want to do some skytruthing of your own? Head over to google-powered Timelapse and “Explore the World.”