Opening of the 2026 Winter Expedition Season

On January 23, 2026, employees of Limnological Institute SB RAS began to implement the winter expeditionary research program. The start of the field season began within the new state assignment “Study of horizontal and vertical water exchange in Lake Baikal, correlations with the geology of the bottom, surface water flow and atmospheric effects, influence on the spatial distribution of pelagobionts”. The laboratory of hydrology and hydrophysics began its work with the installation of specialized equipment aimed at studying the subtle physical processes occurring during the ice formation period, in particular convection during the freezing of salts from the ice cover. For a detailed study of this phenomenon, scientists unfolded under the ice of the lake a whole complex of instruments, which included:

• Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) – used to measure turbulent pulsations of water flow velocity in under-ice water layers; ;
• SBE-37 CTD probe – used to study the dynamics of changes in under ice mineralization;
• RBR 10-bar temperature loggers – used to record water temperature micropulsations on various horizons;
• Rinko water quality probe - used to measure hydrophysical parameters in bottom water and transmit them in real time to Institute.

At the moment the equipment was installed, the ice thickness in the study region was 14 centimeters. As of today, February 25, the ice cover in the South Baikal water area has surpassed 60 centimeters. An autonomous ice weather station was installed in the central part of the lake to automatically record meteorological parameters and observe the ice growth process. At present, the Institute emloyees are in the process of preparing deep-sea experimental apparatus and winch equipment to advance expeditionary research in accordance with the established program.