THE INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE AND COOPERATION/RUSSIA,IRKUTSKAYA OBLAST

 

Location:

Irkutskaya Oblast is located in the southern part of East Siberia and is bordered by Krasnoyarskiy, Kuvinskaya Resp. Buryatskaya Resp. Yakutskaya Resp. and Chitinskaya Oblast.

Area:

1,400km in latitudinal length (North latitude approx. 51°~64°) and 1,500km in longitudinal length (East longitude approx. 95°~119°). It covers an area of 768,000km2(4.6% of the total area of Russia, twice as large as the area of Japan)

Oblast (State) Capital:

Irkutsk City

Population:

2,760,000 personsn (1999)

Climate and Topography:

Irkutskaya Oblast is influenced by the continental climate which is characterized by low temperature and low precipitation. The annual precipitation is 350~430mm. The average temperature ranges between -17~-33°C in January and +17~+33°C in June depending on the districts.

Most of the area belongs the vast Siberia Plateau with an altitude of 500m~1,500m. The southern side adjoining Mongolia and the southeastern side adjoining Lake Bikal are mountainous area. Approx. 86% of its area is covered with forests(668 million hectare) , and thus is an abundant source of timber.

In the southeast is Lake Baykal which is the deepest and the most transparent in the world.

Lake Baykal

Its area is 31,500 km2 (47 times as large as Lake Biwa) , its length is 636km, its average width is 48km, and the maximum width is 79.4km. It contains 23,000km3of water (Approx. one fifth of the fresh water in the world).

The average depth is 730m and the maximum depth is 1,620m. The transparency is 41m (No. 1 in the world).

Nearly 1,500 species of living creature including Bykal seals which exceptionally live in fresh water. There is a Bykal seal bred in Ishikawa Zoo as a symbol of friendship.

 

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