Syr Darya (River), Kazakhstan June 1998. The Syr Darya, one of the principal rivers of the arid central Asia, drains northwest towards the Aral Sea in south central Kazakhstan. The main channel of the river (dark, winding feature) crosses the image horizontally from side to side. The channel is especially visible along the left edge (middle) of the picture. The darker landscape on either side of the main channel shows the extensiveness of the irrigated, cultivated field patterns where agricultural productivity, primarily cotton, increased since the 1960s. Two other stream channels (thin, dark lines-lower left), aligned northeast to southwest, connect with the Syr Darya near the middle of the picture. Extensive areas of lighter-colored land patterns northeast (top right) and west (left middle) of the Syr Darya are unproductive lands, consisting mainly of numerous dry lakebeds. Part of a large sandy desert can be seen south (lower right corner) of the darker, irrigated plains