Russian Science Ministry Extends Large-Scale Baikal Research Project
Russia’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education has extended a large-scale scientific project whose planned targets were fully met and surpassed.
The project is led by a consortium of leading research centers under the Institute of System Dynamics and Control Theory of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It brings together institutes from Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk and Moscow. During the second phase, researchers developed a new system for storing large volumes of data with parallel access, significantly speeding up the processing of Earth remote sensing data. They also created the first model of seiche waves for Lake Baikal, helping explain water mixing processes and the conditions shaping the lake’s ecosystem.
The next phase is set to deploy autonomous underwater vehicles. In June, an expedition aboard the research vessel G. Yu. Vereshchagin is to monitor areas near waste storage sites of the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill and may also study mud volcanoes on the lakebed.
