Spatial Hydrology of the Aral Sea
Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Sandra Akmansoy and Daene C. McKinney, PhD
Center for Research in Water Resources
University of Texas at Austin
June1997

1. Stream and Watershed Delineation

f. Watershed Division

To determine the extend of the watershed within each country, the intersect command was used to intersect the watershed coverage with the political country coverage.
The results were interesting. Most of the basin lies Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afganistan and Kazakhstan. The pie chart below illustrates the divison of the basin more clearly.

The calculated values were then compared to documented values. The area of the Aral Sea basin referenced to January 1987 was found in the Diagnostic Study for the Development of an Action Plan for the Conservation of the Aral Sea. The figure below shows the comparison between the documented and calculated values.

One should note that the calculated values for the two upstream countries, Kyrgystan and Tajikistan, are lower than the documented values. However, the calculated values for the downstream countries, Uzebkistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, are higher than the documented values.

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