Viktor Sokolov‘s Production Company has just created a fantastic slideshow video. Enjoy the nature of the gorgeous Lake Baikal in Russia’s Siberia.
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Viktor Sokolov‘s Production Company has just created a fantastic slideshow video. Enjoy the nature of the gorgeous Lake Baikal in Russia’s Siberia. I found these amazing panoramas at the www.planetspics.ru and definitely wanted to share. The web-site is on Russian language, so I translated captions for pics. Enjoy! ![]() Every year a solid ice cover binds waters of Lake Baikal. In this respect, Baikal is an exception among the larger lakes in the world. These panoramas were made by Andrey Kamenev at a -20C temperature I’ve been recently asked if strong winds ever whip up giant waves on Lake Baikal and where on the lake would large waves be most likely to form. As in any lake, waves in Lake Baikal arise from the effects of wind on water, on the difference of atmospheric pressure on different parts of the valley, from earthquakes, from the tides, from undersea volcanic eruptions, from the vessels motion and other external forces. Waves on Lake Baikal may reach a height of 4 meters. Sometimes they evaluated as 5 and even 6 meters, but it is most likely an estimation “by eye”, which has a large error. Height of 4 meters obtained by instrumental measurements on the high seas. The waves are usually strong in autumn and spring, and even in winter before lake freezes. In the summer on Lake Baikal strong waves and storms are rare. There are winds that blow along the valley, and also transverse winds, that associated with the atmospheric general circulation – transit and local. There are several strongest winds at Lake Baikal:
Almost every wind may cause strong waves, but the most severe is Mountain wind. It’s associated with largest disasters at Lake Baikal and is very dangerous for navigation, especially in the middle of the lake. In 2009 during the storm a ship was thrown to the coast, none of the four crew members were injured.
I’ve been asked if there are any undiscovered islands at Lake Baikal. Baikal is quite well-studied and according to open sources there are no undiscovered islands there at the moment. However, everything is changing) To make my answer more complete, I decided to describe some islands of the Lake. There are different opinions on how many islands actually are at the Lake. Wiki says that there are 27 islands at Lake Baikal. The largest one is Olkhon Island, its length 71 km, width – up to 12 km, area – 730 square km. There is the deepest point – 1637 meters – not far from the outer side of island. There are also Uskanyei Islands, a small archipelago of rocky shores in the middle of Lake Baikal near the Holy Nose Peninsula (Republic of Buryatia). There are 4 islands in the archipelago – Big Ushkaniy (the area of ??9.4 km²), the maximum height above the lake – about 210 meters, and Thin, Round and Long islands. They are covered with larch forest. There are Baikal Seal rookeries on the banks. Human impact is minimal, because these islands are part of the Trans-Baikal National Park. One needs permission to land for visiting Ushkaniye Islands.
Yarki Island is located at the north of Lake Baikal, its length is 20 km, and width from 10 to 200 meters. The island is rapidly destroying because of its sandy structure and the constant rise of water level in Lake Baikal. The writer and Baikal researcher Vitaliy Bryanskiy in his book “Hello, Baikal!” (1989) says there are 35 islands at Lake Baikal. He suggests that Lake Baikal has also such islets as separate large stones, boulders, pebbles or clusters. Some of them have vegetation and nests with gulls’ eggs. Currently, most of the islands of Lake Baikal are enlisted as natural monuments or included to the two national parks. These are photographs of the last year’s winter trekking expedition “Siberian Express for Water” done by Impossible2Possible (i2P) along Russia’s Lake Baikal from its very south to its very north. 650 km on the ice! Incredible achievement! Here’s what the Siberian Express for Water expedition participants say:
Great news! Apart from photographs, Ray Zahab sent me answers to our questions. Further, please, find the interview with him. Additionally, the documentary about the expedition is attached. Baikal contains 23,000 cubic kilometers of pure, delicious, oxygen-saturated, life-giving water, more than all five Great Lakes combined. This is one-fifth of all fresh water liquid reserves on earth. It takes 400 years for all the water in Baikal to drain out through its outlet, the Angara river. By varying estimates, Baikal is 1, 637 meters (or 6 300 feet, or 1, 2 miles) deep. Yes, it’s summer right now! Summer! Pretty hot outside. So, why not chill out?! Let’s look back and see what we had a couple of months ago on Lake Baikal, Siberia / Russia. Magic ice! It’s like a diamond. You can’t stop admiring it! |
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