The second leg of an international expedition involving the Mir-1 and Mir-2 deep-sea submersibles has begun on the world’s deepest lake, Lake Baikal.
The researchers will focus on monitoring the East Siberian lake's ecosystem and studying its flora and fauna, and hydrothermal and volcanic activity, as well as seeking more precise data on tectonic processes under the lake.
The second stage of the $7.5 million Baikal research project envisions over 100 deep-water dives this year.
Interior of the Mir-2 submersible exploring Lake Baikal.
The first dives this summer are taking place in the southern part of Baikal. In July, dives are planned in the center of the lake, and the expedition will move on to the north in August.
The Mir-2 submersible ready to dive during expedition to explore Lake Baikal near the lakeside town of Listvyanka, Irkutsk Region.
Each mini-sub is manned with a captain and two limnologists, specialists in freshwater bodies and their ecosystems.
Center: Sergei Smolitsky, deputy head of the expedition to explore Lake Baikal, supervising the descent of submersibles.
Russian mini-subs conducted 52 dives last summer to study the lake's unique ecosystem and visited the deepest point of the lake, near the center off the island of Olkhon, with a depth of some 1,600 meters.
Many questions still remain unanswered, including the origins of the lake, believed to be 25 million years old, and the unique organisms that live in it.
