The Aral Sea isn’t just an ecological nightmare – it’s a carbon bomb

Grist reports on new research showing the Aral Sea—once Earth's fourth-largest inland lake, now mostly a dried salt flat after sixty years of irrigation—has become a major driver of climate change. Between nineteen sixty and twenty twenty-two, the shrinking sea released seven hundred forty-eight million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere—three times Spain's annual emissions. The study, published in Science, found that when lake beds dry, stored carbon escapes into the air. About half the emissions occurred in the first fifteen years after water receded. Crucially, scientists may have underestimated the damage; they could only drill fifty centimeters deep into a lakebed that extends many feet, so far more carbon could still be released. Researchers also found that wind-blown sediment contributed nearly a fifth of the emissions—an aspect of drying that hasn't been well studied before. The findings extend to other shrinking lakes worldwide, from Lake Chad to the Great Salt Lake, raising concerns about climate tipping points. But the study offers a path forward: protecting the remaining six hundred five million metric tons of carbon locked in the Aral Sea's sediment could be valued at about eighteen billion dollars in carbon credits—potentially providing incentives to restore the lake and prevent further emissions.

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