!!!Baikal Lake, New Impressions
Photos by Stanislav Sedov and Sergey Rumyantsev,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

2 April 2018

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

Five years ago me and Stas had an opportunity to shoot Baikal from the
air. Here we are again. The main goal was to make 360 videos, but of
course we could not have ignored the making of a new virtual tour. We
were lucky: the weather was changing everyday. We walked on clear ice
under blue skies in absolute silence and watched the milky way above
Olkhon Island. We tried to stay warm in -35 degrees cold and managed to
get to the camp through the most harsh snowstorm...

We thank nature for such unforgettable impressions during this short
trip.

[{Image src='01_Sunrise at Maloe More Straight.jpg' caption='Sunrise at Maloe More Straight, Baikal\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

And here are some facts about Baikal.

Lake Baikal is the deepest lake on the planet, and is one of the most
famous landmarks of Russia and the world. In 1996 Lake Baikal was
declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

[{Image src='02_Baikal Lake.jpg' caption='Baikal Lake, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='606'}]

The surface area of the lake is 31,722 sq. kilometers (12,248 sq. mi),
which is comparable to the size of Belgium and Denmark. Its shore length
is 2,000 kilometers (1,300 mi), and maximum depth is 1,642 meters.
Besides Lake Baikal, there are two more "thousanders" in the world: Lake
Tanganyikain in Central Africa (1,470 meters) and the Caspian Sea (1,025
meters). This is not a coincidence: like the enclosed Caspian reservoir,
Baikal is also called "a sea" for its size and significance.

[{Image src='03_Baikal Lake.jpg' caption='Baikal Lake, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='587'}]

Lake Baikal is the largest reservoir of fresh water. It is fed by 336
inflowing rivers and is drained though a single outlet — the Angara
River. Scientists believe that if all inflowing rivers suddenly stop,
the Angara River would continue its flow for 400 years before draining
the lake completely. And if we freeze all Baikal water, cut ice blocks
of 1 cubic kilometer size, and line them up, the line would stretch from
the North Pole to the South Pole, and 2.5 thousand kilometers further
beyond the South Pole mark.

[{Image src='04_Baikal Lake.jpg' caption='Baikal Lake\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='500'}]

Lake Baikal's age is estimated at 25 — 35 million years, however its
origin still raises scientific debates. Average life expectancy of most
lakes around the world, especially those that were formed during the Ice
Age, is about 10 — 15 thousand years, after which a lake is filled with
muddy sediments and gradually becomes a swamp. However Lake Baikal
doesn't show any signs of "aging". Its depth doesn't diminish. Moreover,
Baikal claims 2 centimeters of land every year. There is a hypothesis
that Lake Baikal is in fact an emerging ocean.

[{Image src='05_Baikal Ice.jpg' caption='Baikal Ice\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='437'}]

Lake Baikal hosts around 2,600 of animal species, most of which are
endemic. Besides its unique biodiversity and natural beauty of
surrounding landscapes, Lake Baikal is also famous for the clarity of
its water. One can see details of an object as deep as 40 meters. Thanks
to phytoplankton that lives in Lake Baikal and serves as a biological
filter, water in the lake contains the most concentration of oxygen,
which makes Baikal water truly alive.

[{Image src='06_Baikal Lake.jpg' caption='Baikal Lake, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='513'}]

Despite the fact that Baikal is a lake, severe storms occur here just as
they do in the ocean; and sometimes Baikal waves reach up to 4-5 meters.
No swimmer has been able to cross Lake Baikal yet, mostly due to the
average water temperature, which fluctuates around +10°C. However, the
number of sunny days in Lake Baikal region is greater than in southern
regions of Russia. For example, Olkhon Island (the biggest island on the
lake) gets over 300 clear sunny days a year.

[{Image src='07_Baikal Lake.jpg' caption='Baikal Lake, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='587'}]

All the above-mentioned facts combined with a beautiful picturesque
nature put Lake Baikal next to the most outstanding landmarks of the
world. And, the winter atmosphere captured on our photographs
undoubtedly adds a special charm to the landscape.

[{Image src='08_Baikal Lake.jpg' caption='Baikal Lake, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='513'}]

\\ \\
[26 panoramas of Baikal Lake, New Impressions|Geography/Asia/Russia/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Lake_Baikal_New_Impressions] \\

[{SET customtitle='Baikal Lake, New Impressions (AP)'}]












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