The Aral Sea (68,478 km² in 1960) was the world’s fourth largest inland lake in 1960s. However, it shrank sharply over the past six decades, and its changes caused a series of severe environmental issues. In this paper, we reconstructed its variations over the period of 1960 to 2018 by using observation data and remote sensing data, and analyzed their influencing factors. The results show that the area of the Aral Sea shrank dramatically by 60,156.50 km² (about 87.85%) and the total loss of water volume was approximately 1,000.51 km³ over the study period. In 1986, the Aral Sea broken up into the south and the north parts. Since then, the South Aral Sea has shrunk continuously, while both the area and the water volume of the North Aral Sea have had a little change and shown a very slightly increasing trend. Through comprehensive analysis, it was found that human activities, especially damming and irrigation, are the dominant factors influencing the long-term variation of the Aral Sea. The increased precipitation and glacier meltwater could not compensate for the water loss of the Aral Sea.

咸海（1960年为68,478 km ²）是1960年代世界第四大内陆湖。然而，在过去的十年中，它急剧萎缩，其变化引起了一系列严重的环境问题。在本文中，我们使用观测数据和遥感数据重建了1960年至2018年期间的变化，并分析了其影响因素。结果表明，咸海面积急剧缩小了60,156.50 km ²（约87.85％），总水量损失约为1,000.51 km ³在学习期间。1986年，咸海分为南部和北部。从那以后，南咸海不断缩小，而北咸海的面积和水量都发生了很小的变化，并呈现出略微增加的趋势。通过综合分析，发现人类活动，尤其是筑坝和灌溉是影响咸海长期变化的主要因素。增加的降水和冰川融化水无法弥补咸海的水损失。