An integrated Circum-Baikalian Expedition on the RV “G.Yu. Vereshchagin” took place during June 01-14, 2021
Integrated fieldwork was done during June 01-14, 2021 over the whole Lake Baikal on board of the RV “G.Yu. Vereshchagin”. The work was fulfilled within the State Assignments: 0279 2021 0005 “Study of seasonal and long-term transformations of East Siberian water bodies and water flows in the context of the climate change, geological environment and anthropogenic stress” (directed by Andrey Fedotov); 0279 2021 0004 “Study of advection and turbulence in Baikal water exchange, their impact on the ecosystem of the lake and risks of catastrophic events” (directed by Nikolay Granin); 0279 2021 0008 “From cell to ecosystem: Study of ultrastructure of aquatic organisms and their communities from evolutionary and ecological points of view by methods of cell biology and genomics” (directed by Elena Likhoshway); 0279 2021 0014 “Study of role of precipitations in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems of the Lake Baikal catchment area, identification of sources of air pollutants” (directed by Tamara Khodzher), 0279 2019 0003 “Ecological and economical assessment of functioning of freshwater biocoenoses from fundamental and applied points of view” (directed by Mikhail Makarov), and 0279 2021 0015 “Study of viral and bacterial communities as a basis for stable functioning of freshwater ecosystems and effective response under the anthropogenic stress” (directed by Dr. Olga Belykh).
The aims of the expedition were an integrated monitoring of abiotic and biotic components of the Lake Baikal ecosystem for identification of regularities in their spatial and temporal dynamics; experimental investigations of mechanisms and processes affecting distribution and cycle of matter in water column with account of temperature-density anomalies of deep water in the context of the actual climate change.
Samples were collected within the standard grid of stations at fixed levels from the bottom by means of a Carousel SBE-32 water sampler equipped with 24 5L bottles. Water samples were taken for chemical, microbiological, metagenomic, phytoplankton distribution and species composition analyses. Phytoplankton and zooplankton were sampled with the Juday net. The work was done within the standard grid of station in three basins of the lake, in Barguzin and Chivyrkuy Bays and in Maloe More Strait. In total, 71 station were processed. In addition, water samples were collected in 11 rivers: the Goloustnaya, Buguldeyka, Anga, Sarma, Turka, Barguzin, Tompuda, Rel, Tyya, Upper Angara and Kichera Rivers for water chemistry and microbiology analyses. A high precision CTD probe SBE-25 equipped with dissolved oxygen and water transparency sensors was used for measurements at these 71 stations.
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The total number of samples:
- water chemistry – 350
- microbiology – 256
- measurements of methane concentration – 438
- zooplankton – 85
- phytoplankton – 83
- chromatography – 58
The main fieldwork was accompanied aboard by recording surface water temperature and monitoring gas bubble emissions by means of a hardware and software suit based on a Furuno echo sounder with recording echogram data.
Measurements in the upper 100 m of water were done with a CTD probe JFE-Rinko with additional oxygen, turbidity, fluorescence, pH, Eh and PAR sensors.
A downwelling event was recorded at the area of Cape Beryozovy (near Listvyanka) according to hydroacoustic and depth probing data. Data of additional measurements and water samples were collected at this place for further investigations.
