The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) scientific research satellite, Terra, has captured the images of Aral Sea, lying between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan. The images showed that once- vibrant sea has been shrinking to levels possibly not seen in centuries.

Terra satellite had taken the images in August which shows the eastern basin of the sea. Aral Sea expert and professor at the Western Michigan University, Philip Micklin, said that the sea's eastern basin is completely empty. It has happened first time in modern times, Micklin added.

He said, "And it is likely the first time it has completely dried in 600 years, since medieval desiccation associated with diversion of the Amu Darya [river] to the Caspian Sea".

The sea was once the fourth largest sea in the world. Shrinking of the sea to current levels is considered one of the worst environmental catastrophes. The Aral Sea has been shrinking continuously since the 1960s after Soviet Union's major irrigation projects diverted the rivers that fed the sea. A major irrigation project undertook by the Soviet Union to supply the arid plains of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan became the reason of shrinking of the sea.

The Amu Darya and the Syr Darya are the two rivers of the region that provide water to cotton and other crops in Central Asian desert.

According to Micklin, lower rain this year in the region could have reduced the flow into the Amu Darya feeding the lake.

As the sea is shrinking continuously, it has divided into two sections, the North Aral Sea and Large Aral Sea.

A statement of NASA stated that as the lake dried up, communities depended on it collapsed. Apart from that, polluted water is becoming public health hazard.