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Diving to bottom of world's deepest lake
Russian explorers plunged to the bottom of the world's deepest lake on Tuesday in a show of Moscow's resurgent ambitions to set new records in science.
- AP
- Published: 23:47 July 29, 2008
Aboard the Metropolia, Russia: Russian explorers plunged to the bottom of the world's deepest lake on Tuesday in a show of Moscow's resurgent ambitions to set new records in science.
The mission to the depths of Siberia's Lake Baikal is led by Artur Chilingarov, a scientist and Kremlin-backed member of parliament who was part of an earlier mission to the North Pole that sparked criticism in the West.
Tucked away in the remote hills of south-east Siberia where Russia borders China and Mongolia, Lake Baikal, the world's deepest and oldest lake, is home to some of the world's rarest types of fish and other water-life.
Planting the flag
The mission's twin submersibles slipped into the choppy waters just after dawn and descended 5,510 feet to the lake's deepest point, setting a world record for freshwater submersion. Each of the bright-red Mir-1 and Mir-2 craft carried three scientists. Chilingarov was with reporters who watched from a mission-control point on a nearby platform.
Russian officials hailed the five-hour expedition, due to take seabed samples and document Baikal's unique flora and fauna, as a new chapter in Russian science.
"This is a world record," Interfax news agency quoted one of the expedition's organisers as saying.
Here are some details about Lake Baikal, the world's largest:
- Where is it?
Lake Baikal is tucked away in the remote hills of south-east Siberia, within the republic of Buryatia and Irkutsk province of Russia, where Russia borders China and Mongolia.
Baikal is home to some of the world's rarest types of fish and other water-life. There are between 1,500 and 1,800 animal species at different depths, and hundreds of plant species live on or near the surface. The majority of the species are endemic to Baikal. There are some 50 species of fish.
Into the lake flow more than 330 rivers and streams, the largest of which include the Selenga, Barguzin, Upper (Verkhnyaya) Angara, Chikoy and Uda.
Industries along the shores of Baikal include mining (mica and marble), the manufacture of cellulose and paper, shipbuilding, fisheries, and timber.
Dimensions
Its area is some 31,500 sq km, with a length of 636km and an average width of 48 km.
The world's oldest lake was formed 25 million years ago and contains 20 per cent of the world's total unfrozen freshwater, some 23,000 cubic km.
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