Yesterday famous Russian submersibles “Mir” first time traveled to the bottom of Lake Leman or Geneva Lake. The submersion was performed within a lake’s research programme.

      First dive was not that scientific – the vehicles carried many famous people from Russia, Switzerland, France and America,  Don Walsh (the one who reached the floor of the Mariana Trench with Jacques Piccard) and Bertrand Piccard (son of Jacques Piccard) among them.

      The vehicles will dive into the lake once a day in order to collect sediment samples for further tests on pollutants, to study bottom currents, which distribute wastes and sediments throughout the lake, and etc. About 750 million people, dwelling on the shores of Lake Leman, get drinking water from the lake, thus water studies are essential.

      Programme of the research was developed in Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne and includes geology, hydrology, geochemistry, and microbiology studies. All research will be done in collaboration of five countries – Russia, Switzerland, France, Great Britain and United States of America.

      Source: ITAR-TASS