Renewal of deep waters of Lake Baikal revisited

Abstract

The patterns of renewal of bottom waters in Lake Baikal under the influence of deep convection and intrusion of cold waters have been considered based on the data of temperature surveys of Lake Baikal conducted in 1993–2009. The volumes of the cold bottom layer with the maximums of 200–470 km3 in individual years and the values of its total cooling (−20–60 × 109 MJ) have been determined for South, Middle, and North Baikal. The renewal process is asynchronous and proceeds with different activity in these parts of the lake, which indicates that the mechanisms that cause deep convection in the context of the great latitudinal length and differences in the climate and hydrological processes manifest themselves regionally. The volume of intrusions has been determined. Its average value for the period was higher in South Baikal (20 km3) than in Middle Baikal (9.8 km3) and North Baikal (8.6 km3). The volume of the intrusions in these parts of the lake was 30–70 km3 in some years.