Investigations of Baikal Lake water absorption with ASP-15 device: measurement method and experimental data

Operation of the device ASP-15 is analyzed in the paper. The device is arranged in the south part of Lake Baikal, and it is capable of all-the-year-round measurements of hydro-optical characteristics at the depths down to 1300 m. The method for determining the absorption coefficient is based on measurement of the rate of decrease of the irradiance from an isotropic source with the distance between the source and the receiver. Possible reasons of appearance of anomalous dependences of the irradiance with the distance are revealed on the basis of numerical simulation, and the errors of the applied method are estimated. The experimental data obtained by means of the device ASP-15 last years are presented.