COMPUTER-BASED BATHYMÉTRIC MAP OF LAKE BAIKAL

Abstract

The history of deep-water plumbing of the depth in Lake Baikal started in 1789 when Nikita Karelin, Sergei Smetanin, and Egor Kopylov, employees of the Kolyvano–Voskresensk plants, carried out two traverses with 28 measurements between the head of the Angara River and the mouth the Selenga River. One of such measurements yielded a maximum depth of 1238 m. Thus, Lake Baikal was immediately recognized as one of the world’s deepest lakes. Later, according to oceanographic historians, the British captain Fips accidentally discovered an even deeper area when thermometers used for the measurement of water temperature in this lake reached a depth of about 1250 m.