SIC ICWC ORGANIZES A NEW EXPEDITION FOR MONITORING OF LAKES AND WETLANDS IN THE SOUTHERN ARAL REGION
A new expedition of SIC ICWC for monitoring of lakes and wetlands in the Southern Aral Sea will start on June 10.
The objective of the expedition is to monitor the conditions of lake systems and wetlands along the Amu Darya River Delta and introduce innovative approaches (GPS referencing combined with space observations) to improve environment and recover the natural conditions in the Aral Sea region.
The main objectives of the expedition are:
- assessing conditions of lake systems in the Southern Aral Sea region;
- Improving the SIC ICWC methodology for determining area of lakes and wetlands (based on remote-sensing and GIS studies);
- studying the regime of Sudochie, Jyltyrbas, Muynak, Rybachie lake systems and other local water bodies in the Southern Aral Sea region;
- assessing and analyzing existing management structure in the Amu Darya River Delta (focusing on operability of gauging rods installed to monitor water level and surface area).
The expedition will cover the Amu Darya River Delta and the southern Aral Sea region.
The expected outputs of the expedition are:
- Ground-based data for identification of water bodies and wetlands using satellite imagery and environmental assessment of the lake systems
- Improved methodology for determining areas of water bodies and wetlands.
- Assessed current situation in recording the actual water supply to the Amu Darya River Delta.
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