June 5, 2009:  The Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles are transported from the Irkutsk Aviation Repair Plant to the village of Nikola.  The submersibles are secured on board the Metropoliya special-purpose ship and prepared for new season of Mirs on Baikal scientific research submersions.  Mir on Baikal expedition Director Sergei Smolitsky says that both Mir craft have successfully survived the winter and are fully prepared for the new round of work.

June 15, 2009:  The second season of the Mirs on Baikal expedition begins near the Southern Baikal village of Listvyanka (Irkutsk Region).  The Mir-1 and Mir-2 are lowered from the Metropoliya carrier barge at Cape Sytiy (Full) and make their first new-season submersion into the lake.
Their crews comprise: Mir-1 – Deputy Director of the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Director of the Baikal Institute of Nature Management of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences A. K. Tulokhonov, and pilot Viktor Nishcheta; Mir-2 – the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal’s Chairman of the Guardianship Board Mikhail Slipenchuk, Baikal Museum of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Director Vladimir Fialkov, and pilot Yevgeny Chernyayev.
The teams study the lake’s sediment conditions around its wells and water intake positions, and take samples of water and the lake’s animal life.  The Mir-1 manned submersibles reaches a depth of about 800 meters and spends three hours underwater.  The Mir-2 submerges to 650 meters, with its mission lasting for about 4.5 hours.
The “hydronauts” – as the crew of deep-sea vessels are officially called – conduct a press conference on board the Metropoliya carrier barge, sharing their impressions of the submersions with the numerous members of the national and local press.
June 17, 2009:  The Mir craft start working under a new procedure.  Mir-2 pilot Yevgeny Chernyayev reveals that much longer observation periods were necessary for collecting the required scientific information about aquatic fauna.  Some of the lake’s bottom-dwellers never made it into the Mir submersibles’ traps.  According to Chernyayev, this was because there was simply not enough time: the animals never had the time to adapt to the foreign object.
To ensure more efficient missions that provide the required scientific results, the teams have decided to change the sequence of the Mir submersions: instead of going underwater at the same time, as they had done last year, the craft would do so in turn – but for longer submersions.  To achieve this, the expedition fleet leaves the shore of Baikal near Listvyanka a day early, allowing the Mir craft more time to follow the new rules.  The Mir-1 manned submersible begins its mission at 10:00 am Irkutsk time near the village of Marituy.  The mission is piloted by Viktor Nishcheta and includes two other limnologists.  The craft returns to the surface at 4:30 pm – meaning that the underwater research lasted for six hours, which is at least double the usual (two to three hours) amount.
During its mission, the craft locates and brings back a CTD probe that Limnology Institute researchers lost the previous year.  The instrument, which was recovered at 1,323 meters, continually monitors water temperature, salinity, transparency, and the water’s dissolved oxygen content.  The probe proves to be in good working order and is fit for further service.
June 19, 2009.  The Mir-1 submerges into the epicenter of last year’s Baikal earthquake, which registered 7.0 on the Richter scale.  The craft inspects the fissures and slopes of the lake, sampling its ancient layers and seeking out any new seismic dislocations.  The hydronauts detect clear signs of increased seismic activity – tectonic faults and discharges of gas and thermal water.
The Mir-2 conducts its submersion at Cape Polovinny.  The craft reaches a depth of 1,121 meters, spending around five hours underwater. The crew discovers a previously-unknown type of amphipoda – crab-like predators.

June 20, 2009:  The teams inspect the lake near the Baikalsk, an area impacted by the Baikal Cellulose and Paper Integrated Plant.  They reach a depth of 1,045 metes.  Expedition participants note a substantial improvement in the ecosystem’s condition compared to the previous year, when teams conducted their first round of submersions in the area.  This is evidences by the rising number of natural water purifies such as amphipod barnacles and epischura.
The teams inspect the lake’s underwater slopes and elevations, sampling its ancient layers and searching for any step-like formations.  They also take local Fe-Mn samples of the crust, nodules, sediment and water to help them establish the region’s age, bringing back samples of regional fauna and flora for further comprehensive testing.
June 21, 2009:  The expedition moves to Murinskaya Banka (Murinskaya Can, eastern shore of Baikal), where they make a maintenance stopover near the village of Bolshye Koty (Big Cats, western shore) – site of the limnology research station.
June 22, 2009:  The two craft undertake deepwater submersions between Pad Chyornaya  and Pad Zhilishche.  The Mir-1 manned submersible reaches a depth of 1,020 meters, and the Mir-2 – 1,083 meters.  The descents are designed to: inspect large collections of sponges at depths greater than 400 meters; select samples for further molecular testing; identify the methane concentrations of local water and waterbed deposits; and study the regular distribution of organisms in the region, identifying their specific features.
During the submersions, members of the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences study the depths at which microalgae inhabit the region, studying spores at their varying “littoral zones” and inspecting the content and rates of local “marine snow” activity.  They also sample sediment waters to help determine their dissolved gas and plant nutrient content, further analyzing their fluorescent characteristics.
June 23-24, 2009:  The Mir manned submersibles are officially certified during a stopover in Listvyanka (Irkutsk Region).  German experts from Lloyd thoroughly inspect the craft’s technical certificates, also checking the papers of the Metropoliya carrier barge.  They inspect all their onboard equipment and sign documents confirming that both the manned submersibles and their onboard testing equipment had passed.
June 25, 2009:  The Mir manned submersibles complete a new round of descents near the Malenky mud volcano, which sits 18 kilometers from the shore.  They reach a maximum depth of 1,385 meters.  The mission is stages to help scientists study the local landforms and seek out any potential contamination areas.  They sample supernant suspensions and surface precipitation, taking back examples of living organisms – amphipods and similar crustacea.  The teams inspect the volcano but fail to find its eruption source.
The Gazprom Scientific and Research Institute of Natural Gas and Gas Technology LLC (OOO Gazprom VNIIGAZ) and the Limnology Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences also conduct joint gas hydrate testing in the region.
June 29, 2009:  Viktor Nishcheta and Yevgeny Chernyayev pilot the Mir manned submersibles to the bottom Olkhon Gates Strait and the Bay of Begul, reaching a maximum depth of 1,170 meters.  These submersions are staged to: study the underwater slopes; sample the marble cave formations; study the behavior of caves’ fish and crab-like creatures; test bedrock for its mineral and chemical content; gather geological collections; and sample water and regional fauna and flora for further comprehensive testing.
The Mir-2 manned submersible is fitted with some new equipment: three video cameras, which are set up across the diagonal of the craft, providing a nearly 360-degree view of the lake’s depths during the submersions.  The obtained video material will be sent to Listvyanka’s Baikal Museum of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences for display in special “illuminators” – little monitors that help the museum’s submarine provide visitors with the experience of being underwater.
July 1, 2009:  The Mir manned submersibles pass near the Saint Petersburg mud volcano.  The submersions are staged to study the volcano’s condition and sample the sludge and mud deposits for their subsequent laboratory mineral content analysis.

July 2, 2009:  The Mirs on Baikal expedition makes an important discovery.  According to Mikhail Borzin, Vice President of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal, while inspecting the Saint Petersburg mud volcano, the two submersibles had discovered history’s first case of a gas hydrate field covering the surface of sedimentary deposits.  Until now, such fields had only been found under the sediment layers – buried at least 30 to 50 centimeters under the waterbed.  The Limnology Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences scientists call this an unparalleled case of gas formation that had remained completely unknown to science.
Here is how Nikolai Granin, Director of the Hydrology and Hydrodynamics Laboratory at the Limnology Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, describes it:  “The Saint Petersburg mud volcano was discovered in 2000.  By 2005, researchers had noticed a 900-meter gas flare at the site, which they located to a depth of 1,400.  We have been preparing for yesterday’s submersion for a long time – this was a so-called ‘targeted’ submersion.  And that is where we found the gas hydrates – around the flare.”  Another expedition member, Alexander Yegorov, adds: “We worked for about 10 hours.  We found several different structures expelling the gas from the sediment.  The gas hydrates have a monolithic shape that goes deep down into the sediment."
The Mir-2 manned submersible’s crew manages to take samples of the gas hydrates, but these unfortunately break apart on their journey back up.  Nevertheless, the team does bring back some samples of gas that constituted the compound, allowing scientists to conduct further laboratory work.  Mir-2 manned submersible pilot Yevgeny Chernyayev provides some further details: “From the outside, these gas hydrates resemble a piece of ice.  We managed to grab it using one of the craft’s mechanical arms.  But while bringing it back, at around 200 to 150 meters, we saw something resembling an explosion, where the rising temperatures and reduced water pressures combined to simply break the gas hydrate apart.  In essence, what we found was a large deposit – I guess you could call it a completely-pure natural gas field.”
Here is how Nikolai Granin describes the discovery’s significance: “The international community sees gas hydrates as a promising form of alternative fuel.  The world’s gas hydrate deposits have more hydrocarbons than our entire confirmed natural gas and oil reserves.  Moreover, these hydrates are a renewable resource.  Scientists compare Lake Baikal’s gas hydrate deposits to the reserves found in Irkutsk’s Kovykta gas field.  Today, Japan and India are testing new methods of gas condensate discovery and acquisition.  But Lake Baikal is obviously not a place for doing such work – rather, it is an environmental study ground.”  “What the discovery really means is that Lake Baikal now provides us with the perfect environment for studying the World Ocean’s various processes,” Alexander Yegorov notes.
July 3, 2009:  The Mir manned submersibles conduct their latest mission in the central basin region, near the Malye Olkhon Gates, which sit 2.7 kilometers from the shore.  With a crew of fishery research biologists, the crafts study how local flora and fauna (amphipods and hamartoma) behave in the waterbed at depths of 1,300 meters.  They also study their concentration patterns at various depths.
July 5, 2009:  The Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles reach Cape Izhimey, where they study the deepest regions of Lake Baikal’s Central Basin.  This region is located near Olkhon Island.  Reaching depths of 1,603 and 1,610 meters, respectively, the teams study the local layers’ morphology, bringing back chemical analysis samples and collecting supernant suspensions, which will later be analyzed for deuterium content.

July 8, 2009:  The submersions take place eight kilometers off the lake’s shore, directly opposite the village of Peschanoye.  Reaching a depth of 600 meters, the latest round of research is conducted by the Baikal Institute of Nature Management, which is directed by Russian Academy of Science Corresponding Member Arnold Tulokhonov.  Besides conducting the traditional supernant soil, water and fauna measurements at different ranges, the scientists also bring back several sample of ferro-manganese crust.
July 10, 2009:  The expedition fleet leaves Turka Port for a new submersion point, located some 14 kilometers off the Republic of Buryatia’s village of Gremyachinsk.  These submersions are aimed at reaching a depth of about 800 meters, where both craft will study the canyon’s slope in search of so-called ferro-manganese nodules.  On July 8, the teams discovered nodules that rested on bed silt.  Now, they intend to conduct their search while tracing their craft up slopes that have no silt at all.  These kinds of tests are of tremendous current interest to geologists, representing an entirely new field of study.  In addition, the teams will sample planarians and Baikal fauna representatives.  The Mir -1 manned submersible is piloted by Hero of Russia Y. Chernyayev, with his crew further including the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal’s Chairman of the Guardianship Board M. Slipenchuk and Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Usage Director V. Kirillov.  And for the first time in the Mir on Baikal expedition’s history, journalists are allowed to join the second crew.  This team is composed of the project and Fund’s official information partners: Komsomolskaya Pravda reporter A. Moiseyenko and Buryatia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (BGTRK) correspondent M. Rusina.
July 12, 2009:  The Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersible complete their latest mission around Akademichesky (Academic) Ridge, which stretched between the Olkhon and Ushkan Islands.  The teams are comprised of Dr. M. I. Kuzmin, Chairman of the Irkutsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Director of Irkutsk’s Institute of Geochemistry; Baikal Institute of Nature Management of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences member Y. Bashkuyev; Limnology Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences members O. Khlystov and A. Firsov; and pilots Y. Chernyayev and V. Nishcheta.
The submersions aim to: study the peaks and underwater slopes of Akademichesky Ridge; sample ancient layers; take local Fe-Mn samples of crust and nodules; determine the age and mineral and chemical content of the sediment; gather geological collections; sample water and regional fauna and flora for further comprehensive testing; and sample supernant suspensions and surface precipitation.
Here is how Dr. M. I. Kuzmin describes the submersions: “It was interesting to go down Akademichesky Ridge and see its layers and emerging foundation.  Its sediment horizon runs to 1,000 meters.  Akademichesky Ridge has another curiosity about it: about eight or nine million years ago, it was actually a part of Lake Baikal’s northern shore.  But the lake was being fed by the Barguzin River, so naturally, over time, the lake began moving further north, eventually forming another basin – the Northern Basin.  This story is confirmed by the fact that the sediment of the Southern and Central Basins is around 8,000 meters deep.  But it is only 4,000 to 5,000 meters deep in the Northern Basin.”
The hydronauts study layers forming the main part of Akademichesky Ridge’s foundation.  These are primarily composed of schists and granite, which merge into small-crystal formations that stretch over eight to 10 kilometers.  This location showcases the amazing versatility of these crystals, which are represented in all their various forms.  These ancient layers are about two million years old, and are almost omnipresent around Lake Baikal.”
After studying their sediment, ferro-manganese crust and other samples, scientists will get sense for how the Baikal system developed millions of years ago, when Akademichesky Ridge first submerged under the lake.
M. Grachev notes that it will take scientists around three to four months to study the samples.

Night of June 14-15, 2009:  The craft submerge into Lake Baikal’s Barguzin Bay, reaching a depth of 1,290 meters.
The Mir-1 manned submersible’s crew is comprised of pilot V. Nishcheta and Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences members I. Khanayev and E. Tereza.  The craft spends 10 hours underwater, which is one of the longest submersions ever staged by the teams.  Here is what I. I. Khanayev says upon his return: “One of our objectives involved observing how biological organisms migrate between layer depths of zero to 300 meters.  This area is penetrated by the sun – a limiting factor in how the organisms migrate.  We are well-aware of bionts both actively and passivly migrating along the layers.  But their phases, qualities, ages and sexes – these remain unstudied and unknown.  Who starts the migration process, how fast does it occur, what is its scale and what layers does it span – this is what is important.  We observed the migration that first evening.  But the following morning, we returned to the studied layers and found that with sunrise, some of these organisms remained where they were, refusing to seek out lower water horizons.”
The Mir-2 manned submersible’s crew is comprised of pilot Y. Chernyayev, Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences member I. Klimenkov, and Baikal Institute of Nature Management of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences representative S. Buryukhayev.  The crew study the depths at which the various stages of microalgae inhabit the region, studying their spores at their varying “littoral zones” and inspecting the content and rates of Lake Baikal’s “marine snow” activity.  Here is how I. Klimenkov describes the submersion: “We took the standard selection of samples.  The nerve cells adapt to different conditions, including extreme ones: pressure, reduced temperature, and environments with varying degrees of chemical saturation.  In a certain sense, we see the Baikal crab as an extremely rare example of local adaptation.  After all, the Baikal water is essentially distilled, lacking all sorts of different substances.  We picked up a goby fish that was resting at 1,400 meters.  The Mir submersibles have given us the unique opportunity to collect samples at such incredible depths.  We can now put the nerve cells to all types of experiments.”
July 15, 2009:  The Metropoliya special-purpose ship takes the Mir manned submersibles to the Saint Petersburg mud volcano, which will be the next field of research.
July 16, 2009:  The Mir manned submersibles conduct a scheduled descent near the Saint Petersburg mud volcano.  The mission’s scientists made their unique gas hydrate discovery at this site exactly two weeks ago.  The submersion includes experts from the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Limnology Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
These submersions allows scientists to bring back their first-ever samples of sedimentary gas hydrates.  According to leading P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences researcher Alexander Yegorov, the Institute’s scientists have developed a special probe to help bring the gas hydrate back to the surface.  The probe is made of zinc, allowing it conserve the sample, localizing it from the water’s pressure and temperature changes.  The scientists classify the main phases of the natural fuel’s decay – a step whose importance is vital to the further industrial production of gas hydrates.  A large chunk of gas hydrate broke off the main formation and remained buried at the bottom of the lake.  Using a special mechanical arm, the teams place the piece before the camera, allowing scientists to study the hydrate’s full decay process while it is going back up.  According to Alexander Yegorov, the gas hydrate decade process gathers intensity at shallower locations.  This process accelerates at the 400-meter mark, while at 100 meters, the gas hydrate simply breaks apart, with the whole process looking like a small explosion. 
Until now, gas hydrate decay has remained a serious technological problem that seriously complicated the deployment of the world’s various gas hydrate production programs.  But the upcoming laboratory tests can change all that.
The expedition’ data will change the way people think about the theory of how gas hydrates form.  And this, in the opinion of experts, should help open new prospects for alternative forms of natural fuel.
July 17, 2009:  The Mirs on Baikal expedition meets a group of Buryat students who include winners of the International Baikal Studies Olympiad, along with children from disadvantages families who have been taken under the care of Russia’s new social project.
The meeting is attended by State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs. N. A. Ovchinnikov.  The guests are led through a tour of the Metropoliya special-purpose ship.  The group is also told about how the Mir manned submersibles operate and what makes them unique.  Tour leader N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov conduct an open environmental studies lesson for the children.
The Mir-2 manned submersible performs its latest descent near the village of Turka.  It crew is comprised of: pilot Y. Chernyayev, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs. N. A. Ovchinnikov, and Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal Director B. D. Tsyrenov.  The craft establishes a maximum depth of 639 meters, with the crew taking sediment samples and inspecting previously-undiscovered bottom-dwelling structures.
July 18, 2009:  The Mir manned submersibles perform their latest descent near the Ushkan Islands.  Their crew is comprised of the staff of the Limnology Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
July 20, 2009:  The latest round of submersions takes place in Chivyrkuy Bay.  The Ushkan Islands are a part of the Trans-Baikal National Park, and the mission performed on the basis of scientific recommendations developed by the park’s management.
July 22, 2009:  The Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles conduct their latest mission 6.5 kilometers off Cape Zavorotny.  The crew – which is comprised of the staff of the Limnology Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences – face the challenge of: finding hydrothermal springs; taking sediment and water samples; and collecting deepwater sponges off the slope.  The craft reach a maximum depth of 890 meters.
July 23, 2009:  The Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles make their next descent at Davsha Bay, which is a part of the Barguzin Nature Reserve.  The Mir-2 submersible’s crew is comprised of pilot Yevgeny Chernyayev, and Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal Director Bair Tsyrenov, and Blagosostoyaniye Non-Governmental Pension Fund Executive Director Yelena Sukhorukova.
July 25, 2009:  The expedition fleet moves near Kukui Canyon.
August 1, 2009:  The Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles complete another scheduled submersion into Southern Baikal.  The Mir-1 manned submersible’s crew is comprised of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the Chairman of the Technical Board of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal A. M. Sagalevich, and pilot Viktor Nishcheta.  The Mir-2 manned submersible’s crew is comprised of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal’s Guardianship Board Chairman Mikhail Slipenchuk, pilot Yevgeny Chernyayev, and correspondent Ilya Bernadsky.  The submersion last around four hours, with the Mir-1 reaching a maximum depth of 1,395 meters.

Speaking on board the Metropoliya special-purpose ship, V. V. Putin describes his first impressions: “These are special feelings, special sensations.  What I saw leaves an impression because with your very own eyes, you are able to see what the Baikal is in all its splendor, all its grandeur,” he notes.  According to V. V. Putin, he witnessed no changes to Baikal’s ecological state.  “But we will be attentive to the ecologists’ warnings.  We will base our practical activities on expedience, preserving the environment.  But we will also think about the people who live and work here,” the prime minister underscores.
August 3, 2009:  The next round of the Mirs mission takes place near Southern Baikal’s Cape Tolsty (Fat).  The Mir-2 manned submersible’s crew is comprised of Russian musician and diver Andrei Makarevich, Chairman of the Irkutsk Region Branch of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal Mikhail Shchadov, and pilot Yevgeny Chernyayev.  Conducting the mission on board Mir-1 were: Vladimir Strugatsky, Vice President of the Associate of Russian Polar Explorers; Legislative Assembly of Irkutsk Region Deputy Yury Faleychik; and pilot Viktor Nishcheta.  The Mir-2 manned submersible is raised on board the Metropoliya special-purpose ship at 1:00 pm Moscow time. 
Here is what Andrei Makarevich said immediately upon his return: “My childhood dream has come true.  I once read about the bathyscaphe Trieste, but I never had the slightest hope of conducting such a submersion myself.  It was very interesting.  All those living creatures at the bottom, those geological structures – they are impressive.  We went up along a vertical wall, going from 1,400 to 50 meters.  I feel that the Mir on Baikal expedition is a very good idea.  Perhaps, after starting with this unique place called Baikal, we can all comprehend the unparalleled nature of our whole planet.”

In the evening, Andrei Makarevich performs for members of the Mirs on Baikal expedition on board the Metropoliya.
August 7, 2009:  The next round of Mirs submersions is conducted near the Northern Baikal village of Nizhneangarsk.  One of the crew also includes Gennady Andreyevich Yankus, Director of the Barguzin State Biosphere Reserve.
August 4-11, 2009:  The Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal and the Geography Faculty of the M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University perform joint field surveys of the lake.  The expedition is headed by T. A. Puzanova, a Candidate of Science (Geography) and Academic Secretary of the Scientific and Methodological Board on Ecology and Sustained Development of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.  His group includes seven students who specialize in landscape geochemistry and river hydrochemistry.  The expedition is also joined by the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal’s Chairman of the Guardianship Board M.V. Slipenchuk, Fund Vice President M. Y. Borzin, and Fund Director B. D. Tsyrenov.
This survey is designed to locate polluted rivers that run in the region impacted by the Kholodninsk complex ore deposit.  To meet this goal, the team takes water and sediment samples from adit outflow waters, the Tyya, Kholodnaya and Kichera Rivers, and Angara Bay.  The water and sediment samples will be analyzed at the N. M. Fyodorovsky All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Mineral Resources using an Elan-6100 (Perkin-Elmer, USA) inductive-coupled plasma-mass spectrometer.  This analysis identifies more than 70 elements at concentrations ranging between 10(-8) percent to n10 percent of the natural or  industrial object’s mass.

Expedition participants also witness the Mir submersibles’ descent near Nizhneangarsk, visit the Environmental Studies Center of the Baikal Institute of Nature Management of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and take part in the 35th anniversary celebration of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM).
August 15-16, 2009:  The Mir submersibles complete a two-day mission near Northern Baikal’s Frolikha Bay.  In accordance with the Mir on Baikal’s scientific program, this particular mission is meant to study the local microbial communities and benthic organisms, assess the role being played in the region by chemosynthesis, conduct molecular studies and search for new types and species of life.  According to the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal’s Scientific Board Member A. K. Tulokhonov – who took part in the mission and also serves as Director of the Baikal Institute of Nature Management of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, of which he is a Corresponding Member – the team found fields of bacterial mat.  “This protected area of Northern Baikal turnout out being completely unique.  It is one the lake’s most biological diverse regions, simply teeming with various microorganisms.   We collected some incredibly interesting data that will help us determine the first trophic level of our food chain,” the scientist notes.
August 17-20, 2009:  The craft complete a submersion in the neighborhoods of Cape Gorevoy Utyos and Barguzin Bay.  This mission is designed to: study the region of natural oil flows; establish the origins of the bituminous layers discovered in 2008; conduct a gas hydrate experiment; take bituminous layer samples; study the sulfur-hydrogen reducing bacteria and isolate their active strains; and assess the biological communities’ response to the layers’ chemical composition.  The Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles’ crews are comprised of members of the Baikal Institute of Nature Management of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Baikal Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as a group of Norwegian scientists.  A thorough study of oil flow activity leads scientists to unearth another gas hydrate deposit.  
What the team finds is a previously-unknown layer of gas hydrates (which is believed to be rather small and emitting a gas).  The scientists sample their discovery. 
Another expedition objective involves finding structure-H gas hydrates.  Besides methane, these hydrates also contain propane, butane and other gases.  These structures’ discovery would make Baikal into the world’s only lake with the entire range of possible gas hydrate structures.
August 21-22, 2009:  The submersions take place in Lake Baikal’s deepest portion – near Olkhon Island.  The Mir-1 manned submersible’s crew is comprised of: Hero of Russia and Chairman of the Technical Board of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal A. M. Sagalevich; Vladimir Strugatsky, Vice President of the Associate of Russian Polar Explorers; and Swiss observer Frederik Paulsen.  The craft reaches the lake’s bottom in the neighborhood of its maximum depth.  However, it is still premature to talk about records – the sensor data must still be calibrated to account for the fact that it was designed of saline water, something the lake does not have.  According to initial analyses, the sensors’ reading of 1,605 meters and 1,615 meters, respectively, can be interpreted to mean 1,630 meters and 1,640 meters.  Members of the Mir on Baikal expedition are currently working on these readings.  
August 27, 2009:  Weather forces the next round of scheduled submersions to be postponed.
August 29, 2009:  The new round of Mir submersions is held near a settlement called Katorzhanki, which sits on the 90th kilometer of the Circum-Baikal Railway.  At a depth of 700 meters, the teams discover the remains of train cars that presumably date back to the Russian Civil War.  Mir-2 manned submersible pilot Yevgeny Chernyayev reports: “We found the remains of a train car.  Its entire frame is crushed.  We could see a little door with a window, and if we looked higher, we saw what seemed like pieces of something – either the roof of a car, or perhaps its side plating.”
The details that the teams do manage to bring back are initially identified as the remains of early-20th-century train cars and boxes.  Since the train’s fall spread the remains across a fairly broad range, the teams have so far been unable to find the boxes’ contents.  Here is how Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal Director Bair Tsyrenov describes the discovery: “The intrigue remains.  We still cannot say for sure whether this is where Kolchak’s gold is resting, or if there ever even was such a thing.  It is still an open question.”
The expedition plans to conduct further submersions in the area.
August 30, 2009:  The Mir manned submersibles continue their mission in Southern Baikal.  Despite windstorms, heavy rains and strong waves, the submersions are a complete success.  The teams inspect a region around Kedrovaya Gorge – for many centuries, the site of a winter road (ice passage across the lake) used by Russian and foreign merchants to transport their goods.  In addition to collecting samples, the teams also keep to the natural science part of their program by looking for 17th-19th-century artifacts.

September 4, 2009:  The Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal President A. N. Chilingarov announces the successful conclusion of the second season of the Mir on Baikal expedition.  The teams make 69 submersions between June 15 and August 30, 2009 (putting the two-season total at 122), making a number of important discoveries along the way.
A. N. Chilingarov underscores the importance of the Mir manned submersibles’ research, noting that it will go a long way in helping protect the lake’s ecosystem and develop Russian fundamental science.  He reveals that he will petition the heads of the Russian Academy of Sciences to continue the Mir on Baikal expedition in 2010.
September 10, 2009:  The city of Irkutsk hosts a round table summarizing the outcome of the second season of the Mirs on Baikal International Scientific Research Expedition.  Organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ecology of Irkutsk Region and the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal, the round table is held at the SibExpo exposition center as part of the Siberian Mineral Resource Management (Sibnedrapolzovaniye) forum.  The event is attended by local authorities, leading Irkutsk and Buryat scientists, and expedition organizers and participants.  The conference is opened with welcoming addresses from Irkutsk Region Minister of Natural Resources and the Ecology O. Y. Gaykova, Legislative Assembly of Irkutsk Region Deputy Yury Faleychik, and the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal Vice President M. Y. Borzin.  The attendees are greeted by the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal President A. N. Chilingarov, whose opening address reads, in part: “Obviously, we cannot simply stop at the accomplished.  The short submersion seasons have given gave us a great deal of information about Lake Baikal.  Still, the Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles’ study of the lake showed that this work simply must continue in the future.”
This is followed by reports on the missions’ scientific achievements and organizational characteristics, which are read by: Russian Academy of Sciences Corresponding Member and Baikal Institute of Nature Management of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Director A. K. Tulokhonov, the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal Director B. D Tsyrenov, Hero of Russia and Mir manned submersible pilot Y. S. Chernyayev, Baikal Museum of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Director V.A. Fialkov, Russian Academy of Sciences Member M. I. Kuzmin, and Geology Laboratory Director at the Baikal Limnology Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences O. M. Khlystov.
The round table ends with the adoption of a resolution, which is then signed by the heads of the Buryatia and Irkutsk Regions’ Nature Management Departments and the management of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal.