Posted on 08/01/2009 12:33:47 PM PDT by pobeda1945
BAIKAL, August 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has made a dive to the bottom of the world's deepest lake, Baikal, in the Mir-1 mini-submarine.
Putin, clad in overalls for a 4-hour plunge, spoke to journalists on a radio linkup from the deepest point of the lake's southern part 1,395 meters below the surface, saying he was surprised that the water was not transparent and calling it "a plankton soup."
In his Saturday's dive, the premier, who on Friday set up a satellite transmitter on a white whale during a visit to Russia's Far East Khabarovsk Territory, was accompanied by submersible pilot Viktor Nishcheta and Anatoly Sagalevich, the head of an Oceanology Institute laboratory.
Such activities by Putin, 56, have won him popular support, especially among women: he has piloted a bomber, traveled inside submarines and driven various vehicles.
The Mir-1 and Mir-2 mini-subs involved in research in Siberia's Lake Baikal performed 52 dives last summer. They resumed work in June to monitor the southern part of the lake, near Cape Tolsty, with plans to conduct research in the lake's central and northern parts as well.
Perhaps you are thinking of the Salton Sea, formed originally as a branch of the Sea of Cortez, which empties in droughts and fills in periods of heavy rain, Right now it is pretty dry and (I hear) gives off quite a stench.
That could be it. I also found out that a couple lakes in the mountains above L.A. are greatly reduced due to the city’s needs.
Military officers of opposing armies?
The Salton Sea is a man-made lake caused by land developers who diverted the course of the Colorado River around the turn of the last century into the Salton Sink in hopes of developing the area. The Colorado River ran for three years unabated into the sink creating the sea. The Sea of Cortez has only invaded the Salton Sink area once in prehistory. Funny how California’s largest lake happens to have been created by an environmental disaster and now environmentalists want to save it!
I am referring to the Russian sub that had the explosion about 10 years ago.He refused the offer of the rescue from the foreign divers. We later learned that they where alive and could have been saved, but his pride killed all the men aboard.
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