Two MIR Russian submarines are being been used to explore Lake Geneva this summer. They are based in Le Bouveret and the Rotary Club Monthey was invited by E. Fracheboud, Director of Rhona/Sagrave SA to learn more about this project from J.-D. Bourquin and U. Lemmin, scientists from the Lausanne Polytechnic Institute EPFL.
This mission is part of more than a dozen individual research projects. Little is known about the 580-square-kilometer (224-square-mile) floor of Lake Geneva. About a dozen international teams of scientists now want to change that. One task includes analyzing the pollution particles in the lake whose small size allows them to slip through the filters of the waste water treatment plants on the shoreline.
What happens with these so-called "micro pollutants" -- including heavy metals and residuals from medications and cosmetics -- is important because, each day, the lake provides drinking water to more than half a million people. Scientists estimated that the waterworks pump some 80 million cubic meters (21 billion gallons) of water out of the huge reservoir each year. "The number is continuously rising," says the EPFL's Ulrich Lemmin, who is coordinating the scientific program for the submarines. "Lake Geneva is a very attractive area." 
Measuring the amount of pollutants in the water is meant to help scientists better understand ecological processes within the lake. But the scientists aren't just collecting the data; they can also closely inspect it in the submarines and have the pilots steer them to places in the lake that provide excellent observation points. As Lemmin explains, it is very difficult to reach such places with smaller submersibles. Diving robots would simply carry out their assigned tasks, but the Russian submarines allow the scientists to conduct their measurements flexibly and alter them whenever necessary. Mir 1 and Mir 2 are also supposed to explore the canyons of the Rhone River, which are probably the lake's biggest secrets. The river's waters flow into the lake on its northeastern side. Since it is cold and full of sediments from the Alps, it sinks to the bottom of the lake. After a journey that takes an average of almost 11 years, the waters flow back out of the lake at Geneva, at the southwestern corner of the lake, before continuing their journey to the Mediterranean. Each year, the Rhone dumps five metric tons of sediment into the lake. As that sediment piles up at the bottom of the lake, it creates a mysterious underwater landscape. Though observers cannot see them from land, the bottom of the lake is full of gulches that can stretch for kilometers and be up to 50 meters deep. The walls of this spectacular labyrinth are believed to be extremely fragile. Indeed, the collapse of one of the walls is believed to have triggered a tsunami on the lake in 563. Legend has it that a wall of water raced across the lake then and destroyed the bridges of Geneva. Plans now call for the two Mir submarines to squeeze their way through these canyons. 
The vessels, which are painted orange and white and weigh 18 metric tons each, are among the best submarines available in the world for deep-sea research. They were built in Finland in the 1980s for the USSR Academy of Sciences. There are only four other submarines of this type in the world that can reach depths of more than 3,000 meters (9,843 feet). Indeed, the shallow waters of Lake Geneva (310m , 1017 ft) make it almost a walk in the park for the submarine pilots -- at least when it comes to depths. 
This mission is part of more than a dozen individual research projects. Little is known about the 580-square-kilometer (224-square-mile) floor of Lake Geneva. About a dozen international teams of scientists now want to change that. One task includes analyzing the pollution particles in the lake whose small size allows them to slip through the filters of the waste water treatment plants on the shoreline. What happens with these so-called "micro pollutants" -- including heavy metals and residuals from medications and cosmetics -- is important because, each day, the lake provides drinking water to more than half a million people. Scientists estimated that the waterworks pump some 80 million cubic meters (21 billion gallons) of water out of the huge reservoir each year. "The number is continuously rising," says the EPFL's Ulrich Lemmin, who is coordinating the scientific program for the submarines. "Lake Geneva is a very attractive area." Measuring the amount of pollutants in the water is meant to help scientists better understand ecological processes within the lake. But the scientists aren't just collecting the data; they can also closely inspect it in the submarines and have the pilots steer them to places in the lake that provide excellent observation points. As Lemmin explains, it is very difficult to reach such places with smaller submersibles. Diving robots would simply carry out their assigned tasks, but the Russian submarines allow the scientists to conduct their measurements flexibly and alter them whenever necessary. Mir 1 and Mir 2 are also supposed to explore the canyons of the Rhone River, which are probably the lake's biggest secrets. The river's waters flow into the lake on its northeastern side. Since it is cold and full of sediments from the Alps, it sinks to the bottom of the lake. After a journey that takes an average of almost 11 years, the waters flow back out of the lake at Geneva, at the southwestern corner of the lake, before continuing their journey to the Mediterranean. Each year, the Rhone dumps five metric tons of sediment into the lake. As that sediment piles up at the bottom of the lake, it creates a mysterious underwater landscape. Though observers cannot see them from land, the bottom of the lake is full of gulches that can stretch for kilometers and be up to 50 meters deep. The walls of this spectacular labyrinth are believed to be extremely fragile. Indeed, the collapse of one of the walls is believed to have triggered a tsunami on the lake in 563. Legend has it that a wall of water raced across the lake then and destroyed the bridges of Geneva. Plans now call for the two Mir submarines to squeeze their way through these canyons. The vessels, which are painted orange and white and weigh 18 metric tons each, are among the best submarines available in the world for deep-sea research. They were built in Finland in the 1980s for the USSR Academy of Sciences. There are only four other submarines of this type in the world that can reach depths of more than 3,000 meters (9,843 feet). Indeed, the shallow waters of Lake Geneva (310m , 1017 ft) make it almost a walk in the park for the submarine pilots -- at least when it comes to depths. 
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