http://news.yam.com/afp/life/200807/20080730863296.html
俄迷你潛艇抵貝加爾湖底 計算錯誤未創紀錄
法新社╱毛盈超 2008-07-30 01:05
（法新社俄羅斯貝加爾湖二十九日電）主辦單位聲稱，兩艘俄羅斯迷你潛艇今天潛到世界最深湖泊貝加爾湖的湖底，期吸引世人注意貝加爾湖脆弱的環境，唯未能締造淡水下潛最深的世界紀錄。
六名船員下潛逾一千五百公尺，來到西伯利亞貝加爾湖的湖床，以尋找新的生命型態物種，和促使俄羅斯當局更盡心保護這個原始湖泊。
先前主辦單位曾表示，一艘潛抵貝加爾湖底的迷你潛艇創下湖泊潛水最深的世界紀錄。
但探險活動成員承認，他們計算錯誤。
貝加爾湖探險活動領導人齊林格洛夫在潛艇完成潛水後告訴記者：「沒有締造紀錄，我們會再試一次。」
齊林格洛夫強調：「我們要研究、觀察貝加爾湖，並保護這個湖泊。」
這項貝加爾湖科學探險活動由親克里姆林宮的國會議員齊林格洛夫策劃主辦，他也是一位北極探險家，去年八月間曾率領一支潛艇團隊，潛入富含油氣蘊藏的北極海底插上俄羅斯國旗，為俄羅斯宣示主權。
不過該項北極海底插旗活動，卻被美國譏為是特技表演。
俄羅斯Vesti-24電視台今天獨家現場轉播Mir-1號與Mir-2號兩艘迷你潛艇潛入貝加爾湖底的情況，俄羅斯政治人物也為這項探險潛水升溫打氣。
主辦單位聲稱，這項潛水探險象徵俄羅斯科學發現的復興。
這次貝加爾湖探險也有其政治面向。齊林格洛夫指出，總理蒲亭「全力支持」這項行動；而探險隊駁船上也插有一面執政的「團結俄羅斯黨」的旗幟。
貝加爾湖是世界最深與儲水量最多的淡水湖，但從面積來論，它並不是全球最大的湖泊。環保團體聲稱，污染已威脅到這個原始湖泊。
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080729/sc_afp/russiasciencetechnology_080729161900
Russian subs explore world's deepest lake
by Bertrand de Saisset
1 hour, 13 minutes ago
LAKE BAIKAL, Russia (AFP) - Two Russian mini-submarines on Tuesday dove to the bottom of the world's deepest lake to draw attention to its fragile environment but failed in a record-setting attempt, organisers said.
Six crew members descended over 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) to the floor of Lake Baikal in Siberia in a bid to find new life-forms and encourage Russian authorities to take greater care of its pristine waters.
But after an initial claim to have made the deepest freshwater dive in history, expedition members admitted they had miscalculated.
"There was no record.... We'll try again," expedition leader Artur Chilingarov, a Russian parliamentarian and a celebrated Arctic explorer, said after the dive.
"We want to study and observe Baikal, to preserve it," said Chilingarov, who led a submarine team last year that planted a Russian flag at the bottom of the North Pole.
That dive aimed to stake a claim to the Arctic's rich energy reserves in a mission that was dismissed as a stunt by the United States.
Like the Arctic dive, Tuesday's mission was extensively covered live on Russia's Vesti-24 television channel and hyped up further by Russian politicians.
Expedition organisers said the mission signalled a revival of scientific discovery in Russia.
The expedition also had a strong political dimension. Chilingarov said he had "full support" from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and a flag for the ruling United Russia party could be seen flying from the expedition's barge.
But crew members said the government needed to do more to protect the UNESCO-protected site.
"Many people are concerned about the lake's fate, and not enough is being done," said Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn, head of the local Buryatiya region and one of the crew members.
The scientists said they planned to collect samples at different depths and document the effects of global warming on the lake in the weeks to come, as well as study economic development in the region.
Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, although not the largest in terms of surface area. Environmental groups warn that increased pollution is threatening the lake, which has more than 800 unique wildlife species.
On Tuesday, expedition organisers and a representative of Guinness World Records in Russia initially claimed that the Mir-1 mini-submarine had broken the record.
But Chilingarov later admitted that the first of the submarines, Mir-1, went down only 1,580 metres (5,184 feet) and not 1,680 metres as initially calculated.
The second vessel, Mir-2, went down further to 1,592 metres -- still not enough to set a record for the deepest submarine dive in fresh water. The current record of 1,637 metres was set in Lake Baikal in the 1990s.
The Mir-1 and Mir-2 mini-submarines, which are each 7.8 metres (26 feet) long, have filmed the wreck of the Titanic and carried out work on the Kursk submarine, which sank in 2000 in the Barents Sea with 118 sailors on board.
They were designed to descend to a depth of 6,000 metres.
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