The intricate lines angling and criss-crossing over the landscape are roads in extreme southwestern Kazakhstan. The turquoise areas on the left of this false-color satellite image are salt flats and marshes, some parts of which are submerged (dark blue). The body of water is Sor Kaydak, which was once a gulf of the Caspian Sea. As water levels have dropped, curious patterns in the landscape have emerged that reveal old tributaries. Image courtesy of USGS.

The Aral Sea, on the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, has diminished dramatically since the 1950s when its water was diverted for unfettered irrigation. By 2000, when this photo was taken, the surface area of the Aral had decreased by about two-thirds, and its volume by more than 80 percent. Today, only three lakes remain (covering less than 10 percent of the former surface area) and only one of these, the North Aral Sea (the deep blue area toward the bottom), has been partially restored. Image courtesy of NASA.

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the Aral Sea was the world's fourth-largest lake. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union began a massive irrigation project in what are now Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, diverting water from the rivers that feed the Aral Sea to irrigate farmland. As its water levels dropped, the lake began splitting into smaller pieces: the Northern (Small) Aral Sea and the Southern (Large) Aral Sea. The Southern Aral Sea further split into eastern and western lobes. In August 2009 when this photo was taken, the Northern Aral Sea (upper right) still appeared healthy, the Southern Aral Sea consisted of two isolated water bodies: an irregular oval shape directly southwest of the Northern Aral Sea, and the long, thin remainder of the Southern Aral Sea's far western lobe. Much of what finally doomed the Southern Aral Sea was an attempt to save its neighbor to the north. In 2005, Kazakhstan built the Kok-Aral Dam between the lake's northern and southern portions to preserve water levels in the north. The Northern Aral Sea actually exceeded expectations with the speed of its recovery, but the dam ended prospects for a recovery of the Southern Aral Sea, which some authorities already regarded as beyond help. Lake sediments from this depleted water body have provided ample material for frequent dust storms. Image courtesy of NASA.

Central Asia's most important cotton-growing region is concentrated in the floodplain of the Syr Darya. The floodplain is shown here as a tangle of twisting meanders and loops (image center). The darkest areas are brushy vegetation along the present course (filled with blue-green water); wisps of vegetation are also visible along flanking swampy depressions, or sloughs. An older floodplain appears as more diffuse dark vegetation (image upper left), where relict bends are overlain by a rectangular pattern of cotton fields. The straight channel of a new diversion canal can be seen along the east bank of the river. Half the river flow is controlled from reservoirs, and half from direct water take-off from canals. In contrast to the intensive agricultural use of water shown here, water control in the mountain valleys upstream is oriented more toward power generation.The river flows for 2,200 km (1,370 mi), from the Tien Shan Mountains west and northwest to the Aral Sea. Control of the river is vested in the Syr Darya Basin Water Organization, run by nations with territory in the watershed. Some of the organization's main efforts include accurate gauging of water use and repair of canals to reduce widespread water leakage. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Mimicking a cubist collage, linear windbreaks of densely planted trees surround farmsteads in this winter landscape near the city of Komsomolets in northern Kazakhstan. Image courtesy of USGS.