Baikal Presentation.pptx

3/11/10 Lake Baikal
Under Climate Change
By Carl Edwards
Transboundary Water Resources
Outline:
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Formation
Lake Characteristics
Geographic Characteristics
Watershed Characteristics
Ecosystem
Climate change effects
Transboundary Issues
Current Preservation Measures
1 3/11/10 Formation:
• Rifting began in the Oligocene 20-30 mya, with the collision of the Indian and
Eurasian continental plates
• The rift valley is estimated at 9 kilometers in depth, making this the deepest
continental indentation in the world
• Comparison: The average lifespan of a lake is estimated at
10,000 yrs. Modern humans appeared 200,000 years ago. The
first mammal with bipedal movement evolved somewhere
between 2-4 million years ago.
• The Mariana Trench is approximately 11 kilometers deep
Lake Characteristics:
• Surface Area: 31,500 km2
This is approximately the size of
Maryland
• The deepest point is estimated at
1,741 meters. Lake superior, the
largest freshwater lake by surface
area, reaches a maximum depth of
406 meters
• Total Volume: 23,000 km3
What does that mean?
Lake Baikal holds 20% of the
world’s fresh surface water
Peter Thompson, Sacred Sea: “The world’s six-billion-plus people could drink, bathe, wash their
dishes and clothes, flush their toilets, irrigate their crops and lawns, water their livestock, run
their factories, make coffee, and brush their teeth using only Baikal’s water for more than six
years.”
How does such a large water resource remain untouched?
2 3/11/10 Geographic Characteristics:
• Located in Siberia: 4,000 kilometers from the Pacific Ocean, 250 kilometers above
the Mongolian border, 5,000 kilometers east of Moscow and many kilometers south
of nothing
• Average winter temperatures: -19°C
• Average summer temperature: 9-12°C
• Average water temperature: 4°C
• Surrounded by mountains on all sides with very little shoreline
• Remained “undiscovered” by Russians until 1643. Native Buryats established
residency more than 800 years ago
Watershed Characteristics:
• 607,000 km2: What does that mean? Close to the size of Texas
• Our transboundary focus: The Selenga River
• Headwaters originate in Mongolia in multiple locations
• More Statistics!: 120 m3/sec average discharge or 3.1 MAF/year (A little
over 50% of flow into Lake Baikal)
3 3/11/10 Ecosystem
• Over 1,500 endemic species of flora and fauna. More than the Galapagos Islands!
(approximately 500 endemic species)
• Underwater life is sustained by an unexplained high dissolved oxygen content
• Lake Baikal is a unique transboundary resource where human consumption is not the
focus
Epischura Baikalensis
• Cleans organics from the lake
• Water is clean enough for human
consumption
Phoca Sibirica (Nerpa Seal)
• The only true freshwater seal on earth
Comephorus Baikalensis
(Baikal Oilfish)
• Can move throughout the entire water
column of Lake Baikal
• Principal food source for the Nerpas
Climate Change
Air Temperature:
• 1.2°C increase in the past century (Some say in the last 10
years)
• Warmer air temperatures could affect life in the epipelagic
and mesopelagic levels of Baikal’s ecosystem
• 4.5°C increase in surface water temperature by the end of the
21st century
• Decrease in ice cover (Maintaining historic ice cover is
essential for the spring algae bloom)
Precipitation Changes:
• 26% increase in winter precipitation by the
end of the 21st century
• Most will fall as snow cover, reducing the
available sunlight for algae blooms
(Moore et al., 2009)
4 3/11/10 Why is algae important?
• Algae blooms are a major food source for E. Baikalensis, and the algae species in Lake Baikal are endemic • E. Baikalensis represents 90% of the biomass within Lake Baikal (Moore et al., 2009) 5 3/11/10 Transboundary Issues – Mining in Mongolia
• Extensive natural resource exploration along the Selenga River
• Gold, Copper and Coal represent the major components of the mining industry
• Little or no reclamation after mining operations cease. Tailings are abandoned
allowing for the leaching of sulfides through oxygenation
Attention to environmental degradation in Mongolia is not
likely to become a priority:
• Mining is Mongolia’s source of wealth (estimated 3,000 tons of gold yet to be
recovered , worth about $106 billion based on a price of $1,110 /oz.)
• 30% of the country is licensed for exploration
• Neighboring China is the primary buyer
(Robinson, 2004)
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
6 3/11/10 Mining in the Buryat Republic
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Some reclamation in the Dzhidinksi region to re-grade gold tailings
Many abandoned mining operations originated under the Soviet government : no
company or governing body to hold responsible for reclamation
Protective measures for the Baikal Watershed
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Baikal Law : Established in 1999, and amended in 2002, 2003 and 2004
Prohibits: Chemical Pollution, Biological Pollution, Construction of any NEW
economic objects, and establishes Ecological zone
Law enforcement is constrained by money: 2002 Budget for Baikal Law $1 million
Where do you find the necessary funds?
The Prime Minister of Russia at Lake Baikal
"I see the bed of Lake Baikal and it is clean“
-Vladimir Putin
7 3/11/10 Discussion
Monetary value of a biosphere?
• The Economists: $33 trillion/year: Includes lumber production, crop production,
mineral resources, purification of water, waste treatment, biomass fuel,
hydrocarbon resources, fish catch, etc.
• E.O. Wilson - The Future of Life: “Even the species themselves are largely
unknown. Fewer than two million are in the scientific register, with formal
Latinized names, while an estimated five million to one hundred million-or moreawait discovery. Of the species known, fewer than 1 percent have been studied
beyond the sketchy anatomical descriptions used to diagnose them”
Nerpas!!!
Two topics not addressed:
•  Permafrost melting around Baikal. Methane is a far stronger
greenhouse gas than Carbon Dioxide: Do climate models take
into account methane production near Baikal?
•  Baikalsk Paper Mill on the Southern shore of Lake Baikal:
discharges of organochlorines from bleaching
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