The littoral zone in many parts of Lake Baikal is nearly absent, because the lake bottom drops off suddenly to deep depths. Consequently, the bow of this 18 m long research vessel is beached on shore for boarding and deboarding while the stern of the vessel floats over water that is 20-50 meters deep. Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world, is a tectonic basin with a shape resembling that of a bathtub (i.e., steep-sided). The research vessel shown here is the "Professor Kozhov", owned and maintained by Irkutsk State University.