On 20 August the main stage of the second summer stage of the International research expedition “Trans-Eurasian flight Leman-Baikal” finished at the scientific base of the Baikal Institute of the Nature Management in Istomino. The last week of August the scientists will have to move to Lake Gusinoe and village Turka for the final research flight of this summer.

Head of the project from the Swiss part, Deputy Director of the Polytechnic school of Lausanne (Switzerland) Natacha Pasche told to the press-service of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal, that the first results look promising. Thanks to good weather and a hard team work, they managed to collect images covering the ENTIRE delta of Selenga. Back in Switzerland, they will process the images to create maps of water quality and vegetation. The ground truthing team can already show the concentrations of particles in different points within the delta. These data will be used to calibrate the future maps of water quality.

Also Mrs. Pasche shared her impressions about her first trip to Lake Baikal: “As a limnologist, I was very excited to get the chance to work on mythical Lake Baikal, the world oldest and largest lake. During flights with the ULM, I truly realised the immensity of Baikal and I was impressed by the beauty of the Selenga Delta during our boat trips. As most Russian people I met, I have a profound respect for this attracting lake and hope to come back soon. I look forward to our next expedition in 2015, when we plan to investigate the shorelines of the entire lake Baikal by boat, ULM and drones”.