Aral Karakum edit extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (using Wikipedia Reflection Script)

Aral Karakum is a desert in Kazakhstan, situated northeast of the Aral Sea. It borders on the Syr Darya river to the south. The desert covers an area of 40,000 km².

The landscape in the region is quite flat, with a height that varies from 55 to 118 meters AMSL. The dunes can reach heights of around 25 meters. The area is very dry, and the dried-out riverbeds usually only carries water during springtime, when the winter snow melts. Annual precipitation is around 120 mm.

The winter lasts from mid-November to mid-March, with varying cloudcover and frequent fog. Mean temperature during daytime is minus 5-10 °C, and at night around -25 °C. The lowest recorded temperature is -42 °C. However, at any time during winter, the can be periods of mild weather. Precipitation fall mostly in the winter, as snow. Snowcover is usually around 15 cm deep, but can reach 30 cm.

Summer last from May to mid-September. Daytime temperatures is normally around 30-35 °C, but temperatures up to 43 °C has been recorded. At night the temperature drops to 15-18 °C. During summer there is often dry winds and duststorms.

The Aral Karakum has some vegetation, mainly grasses, and it is being used for grazing of sheep.