The expedition is still operating in Southern Baikal, near Listvyanka village. Today, during six hours of submersion, deep submergence vessel MIR reached the depth of 1,400 meters.
Experts of Buryatiya Institute of Nature Management of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and V. A. Fialkov, Director of the Baikal Museum of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, also participated in the submersion.
MIR-1 deep submergence vessel, guided by Viktor Nischeta, was taking biological samples and bottom sediments using the Slepgan device (“water hoover” that collects water and fauna species into special reservoirs).
The challenge of the crew aboard MIR-2 deep submergence vessel (piloted by Evgeny Chernyaev) was to conduct biological studies. The scientists used a special trap to catch the lake’s fauna representatives. They also conducted an experiment to produce gas hydrates from a purpose-made gas that differs from the natural methane by its physical characteristics. The goal of the experiment was to study the conditions and peculiarities of gas hydrates accumulation in deep waters.