South Aral Sea Syr Darya, would be diverted in order to irrigate cotton and food crops in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In 1986, due to an accelerated loss of water, the Aral Sea was split into northern and southern parts; the northern part is the current North Aral Sea. In 2007, the western basin had a salinity of 70 g/l and the eastern basin 100 g/l. Once the water level falls below the connecting channel (elevation 29 m), the salinities can be expected to diverge further. Under current conditions, the eastern basin may receive water from the Amu Darya in wet years, fluctuating in
Normal height Normal height Normal heights are heights above sea level, one of several types of height which are all computed slightly differently. Alternatives are: orthometric heights and dynamic heights. The normal height formula_1 of a point is computed from geopotential numbers by dividing the point's geopotential number, i.e. its geopotential difference with that of sea level, by the average, normal gravity computed along the plumbline of the point. (More precisely, along the ellipsoidal normal, averaging over the height range from 0 — the ellipsoid — to formula_1; the procedure is thus recursive. Normal heights are thus dependent upon the reference ellipsoid