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Satellite images show that Russiaâ€™s Lake Baikal remains without solid ice cover

"Itâ€™s been a warm winter in Baikal, as observed from space," Roscosmos said in comments to its posted pictures

MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake located in Russia, has still not frozen over amid a relatively warm winter, according to images taken by the Russian meteorological satellite Meteor-M.

The images of Lake Baikal were taken by a Russian meteorological satellite in outer space and were published on the Telegram channel of Russian Space Agency Roscosmos on Wednesday.

"It’s been a warm winter in Baikal, as observed from space," Roscosmos said in comments to its posted pictures. "The lake is still without a solid ice cover."

"Roscosmos' Meteor-M satellite continues surveying the situation regarding the ice cover on the lake," the agency added.

Lake Baikal is the world’s deepest lake and the world’s largest drinking water reservoir, containing about 20% of the globe’s drinking water. The lake was included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1996.

The Russian lake is one of the biggest natural World Heritage sites. The forests and swamps surrounding the lake as well as its rich fauna and flora make the site a tourist hotspot for Russians and foreigners.

The Meteor-M satellite is designed to observe the Earth's natural resources, monitor the helio-geophysical situation in near-Earth space and receive information from automatic data collection measurement platforms. The spacecraft is also equipped with the tools of the COSPAS-SARSAT search and rescue system.

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