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Lake Issyk-Kul
From space, September 1992
Coordinates	42°30′N 77°30′ECoordinates: 42°30′N 77°30′E
Lake type	Endorheic Mountain lake Monomictic
Primary sources	Glaciers
Primary outflows	Evaporation
Catchment area	15,844 km²
Basin countries	Kyrgyzstan
Max length	182 km
Max width	60 km
Surface area	6,236 km²
Average depth	270 m
Max depth	668 m
Water volume	1,738 km³
Shore length1	688 km
Surface elevation	1,606 m
Settlements	Cholpon-Ata, Karakol
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Issyk Kul (also Ysyk Köl, Issyk-kol; Kyrgyz: Ысыккөл, Russian: Иссык-Куль) is an endorheic lake in the northern Tian Shan mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan. It is the ninth largest lake in the world by volume and the second largest saline lake after the Caspian Sea. Although it is surrounded by snow-capped peaks, it never freezes; hence its name, which means "warm lake" in the Kyrgyz language. The lake is a Ramsar site of globally significant biodiversity (Ramsar Site RDB Code 2KG001) and forms part of the Issyk-Kul Biosphere Reserve.

Contents 1 Geography 2 Tourism 3 History 4 Fish 5 The Legend of its Creation 6 Russian Navy test site 7 Lakeside towns 8 References

Lake Issyk Kul has a length of 182 km, a width of up to 60 km, and covers an area of 6,336 km². This makes it the second largest mountain lake in the world behind Lake Titicaca in South America. Located at an altitude of 1,608 m, it reaches 668 m in depth^[1].

About 118 rivers and streams flow into the lake; the largest are Djyrgalan and Tyup. It is fed by springs, including many hot springs, and snow melt-off. The lake has no current outlet, but some hydrologists hypothesize^[2] that, deep underground, lake water filters into the Chu River.

The lake's southern shore is dominated by the ruggedly beautiful Tian Shan mountain range. The lake water has salinity of approx. 0.6% (less than 20% that of seawater) and its level drops by approximately 5 cm per year.^[3]

Administratively, the lake and the adjacent land are within Issyk Kul Province of Kyrgyzstan.

During the Soviet era, the lake became a popular vacation resort, with numerous sanatoria, boarding houses and vacation homes along its northern shore, many concentrated in and around the town of Cholpon-Ata. These fell on hard times after the break-up of the USSR, but now hotel complexes are being refurbished and simple private bed-and-breakfast pensions are being established for a new generation of health and leisure visitors.

The city of Karakol (formerly Przhevalsk, after the Russian explorer Przhevalsky who died there) is the administrative seat of Issyk Kul Oblast (Province) of Kyrgyzstan. It is located near the eastern tip of the lake and is a good base for excursions into the surrounding area. Its small old core contains an impressive wooden mosque, built without metal nails by the Dungan people, and a wooden Orthodox church that was used as a stable during Soviet times (see state atheism).

Lake Issyk Kul was a stopover on the Silk Road, a land route for travelers from the Far East to Europe. Many historians believe that the lake was the point of origin for the Black Death that plagued Europe and Asia during the early and mid-14th century. The lake's status as a byway for travelers allowed the plague to spread across these continents via medieval merchants who unknowingly carried infested vermin along with them. A 14th century Armenian monastery was found on the northeastern shores of the lake by retracing the steps of a medieval map used by Venetian merchants on the Silk Road.

The lake contains highly endemic fish biodiversity, and some of the species, including four endemics, are highly endangered. In recent years catches of all species of fish have declined markedly, due to a combination of over-fishing, heavy predation by two of the introduced species, and the cessation of lake restocking with juvenile fish from hatcheries. At least four commercially targeted endemic fish species are sufficiently threatened to be included in the Red Book of the Kyrgyz Republic: Chebak (Leuciscus schmidti), Chebachok (Leuciscus bergi), Marinka (Schizothorax issyk-kuli), and Sheer or Naked Osman (Diptychus dybovskii). Seven other endemic species are almost certainly threatened as by-catch or are indirectly impacted by fishing activity and changes to the structure and balance of the lake's fish population.

Sevan trout, a fish endemic to Lake Sevan in Armenia, was introduced into Issyk-Kul in the 1970s. While this fish is an endangered species in its "home" lake, it has a much better chance to survive in Lake Issyk-Kul where it has ravaged the indigenous species.

In pre-Islamic legend, the king of the Ossounes had donkey's ears. He would hide them, and order each of his barbers killed to hide his secret. One barber yelled the secret into a well, but he didn't cover the well after. The well water rose and flooded the kingdom. The kingdom is today under the waters of Issyk-Kul. This is how the lake was formed, so legend says. Other legends say that four drowned cities lie at the bottom of the lake; in fact, substantial archaeological finds have been made in shallow waters of the lake.

There is a long-established Soviet, now Russian, test site located at the lake, where submarine and torpedo technology was evaluated.^[4]

• Balykchy (the railhead at the western end of the lake)
• Tamchy
• Cholpon-Ata (the unofficial capital of the north shore)
• Karakol (the provincial capital near the eastern end of the lake)
• Barskon

1. ^ http://www.ilec.or.jp/database/asi/dasi55.html
2. ^ V.V.Romanovsky, "Water level variations and water balance of Lake Issyk Kul", in Jean Klerkx, Beishen Imanackunov (2002), p.52
3. ^ http://www.ilec.or.jp/database/asi/asi-55.html
4. ^ Kommersant-Vlast, 'Vys Rossiya Armia', 2005

• World Lake Database entry for Lake Issyk-Kul
• Photographs of Issyk-Kul sites
• Jean Klerkx, Beishen Imanackunov (eds.): "Lake Issyk-Kul: Its Natural Environment". Springer, 2002. ISBN 1402009003. (Searchable text on Google Books)