The Aral Sea (lang-kz???? ?????? Aral Te�izi; lang-uzOrol Dengizi; lang-ru????????? ???? Aralskoye More; lang-tg????? ???? Bahri Aral; lang-fa?????? ?????? Daryocha-i Khorazm) is a saline (Salt lake) endorheic basin in Central Asia; it lies between Kazakhstan (Aktobe (Aktobe Province) and Kyzylorda (Kyzylorda Province) provinces) in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south. The name roughly translates as "Sea of Islands", referring to more than 1,500 islands that once dotted its waters.

Once among the four largest lakes of the world with an area of convert68000km2sqmi, the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet Union irrigation projects. By 2007 it had declined to 10% of its original size, splitting into three lakes - the North Aral Sea and the eastern and western basins of the once far larger South Aral Sea. By 2009, the south-eastern lake had disappeared and the south-western lake retreated to a thin strip at the extreme west of the former southern sea. The maximum depth of the North Aral Sea is convert42mft (as of 2008).

The regions once prosperous fishing industry has been virtually destroyed, bringing unemployment and economic hardship. The Aral Sea region is also heavily polluted, with consequent serious public health problems (public health problems in the Aral Sea region). The retreat of the sea has reportedly also caused local climate change, with summers becoming hotter and drier, and winters colder and longer.

There is now an ongoing effort in Kazakhstan to save and replenish the North Aral Sea. As part of this effort, a dam project was completed in 2005; in 2008, the water level in this lake had risen by convert12mft from its lowest level in 2003. Salinity has dropped, and fish are again found in sufficient numbers for some fishing to be viable. However, the outlook for the remnants of the South Aral Sea remains bleak. It has been called "one of the planets worst environmental disasters".