Over the past 30 years, the amount of dust in Central Asia has increased by 7% due to the drying up of the Aral Sea. Research from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research and the Free University of Berlin reveals that from 1984 to 2015, dust emissions from the expanding desert nearly doubled from 14 to 27 million tons. Two-thirds of the dust remains in the air, potentially going unnoticed by traditional satellite observations.
Experts at the Second Central Asian Dust Conference (CADUC-2) in Nukus, Uzbekistan, near the Aral Sea, warn that the dust poses a threat to the region's residents and worsens air quality in the capitals of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Furthermore, it could accelerate glacier melting, exacerbating the water crisis in the region.
Once the fourth-largest body of water globally at 68,000 square kilometers, the Aral Sea has drastically shrunk due to excessive river diversion for agriculture, leaving behind the Aralkum desert spanning 60,000 square kilometers. Dust from the Aralkum is considered hazardous as it contains remnants of fertilizers and pesticides.
Researchers also found that Aralkum dust can alter large-scale weather patterns, increasing surface air pressure in the Aral region by +0.76 Pascal on a monthly basis, intensifying Siberian winter highs and weakening Central Asian summer lows. Desertification caused by lake desiccation is not just a local issue but affects vast regions, with new data shedding light on the impact of desert dust on climate.
In 2023, meteorologists in Tajikistan noted that residents faced dusty weather almost every two and a half days, with Dushanbe experiencing dusty storms for 93 days last year. The findings underscore the urgency of addressing the environmental consequences of the Aral Sea's decline and its ripple effects on the broader region.
