Aral Sea

 desert, invisible

The Aral Sea (Kazakh: Арал Теңізі (Aral Tengizi), Uzbek: Orol dengizi, Russian Аральскοе мοре) is a landlocked endorheic sea in Central Asia; it lies between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south. The name comes from Aral-denghiz, Kirghiz for "the Sea of Islands." Since the 1960s the Aral Sea has been drying out and shrinking, as the rivers that feed it (the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya) were diverted by the then Soviet Union for irrigation. The Aral Sea is heavily polluted, largely as the result of weapons testing, industrial projects, and fertilizer runoff.
It is currently split into three parts: Northern, Western and Eastern (or Southern), separated by dry land.