648 BIOLOGY OF THE SEAS OF THE U.S.S.R. 



III. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 

 Size and level 



The greatest length of the Aral Sea is 428 km, and its greatest width 284 km 

 (Fig. 303). Its area is 64,500 km 2 : i.e. in size it occupies fourth place among the 



Fig. 303. Bathymetric chart of the Aral Sea 



(Nikolsky, 1940). Currents indicated by arrows 



(Kulichenko, 1944). 



lakes of the world (after the Caspian Sea, Lake Superior and Lake Victoria). 

 The volume of the Aral Sea is 10 3 km 3 . 



The level of the Aral Sea is 79-5 m higher than that of the Caspian and 52 m 

 higher than that of the ocean. 



Water balance 



The water balance of the Aral Sea was determined by V. Samoilenko (1947) 



as given in Table 277. 



Table 277 



