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This paper analyzes the results of the automatic (in situ) recording of the regional transport of pollutants from the large regional coal-fired thermal power plants in the atmospheric boundary layer above the southern basin of Lake Baikal. Due to high stacks (about 200 m), emissions from large thermal power plants rise to the altitudes of several hundreds of meters and spread over long distances from their source by tens and hundreds of kilometers. The continuous automatic monitoring of the atmosphere in the southern basin of Lake Baikal on top of the coastal hill (200 m above the lake) revealed the transport of a large number of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides in the form of high-altitude plumes from thermal power plants of the large cities located 70 to 100 km to the northwest of the lake (Irkutsk and Angarsk). The consequence of such transport is the increased acidity of precipitation in the southern basin of Lake Baikal and the additional influx of biogenic nitrogen compounds to the lake ecosystem. The spatial scale and possible risks of such regional transport of air pollution for the lake ecosystem require further closer study.

This study presents the research results of chemical composition of the snow cover in the Baikal region exposed to aerotechnogenic emissions from pollution sources located in the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia. The samples of snow cover taken along the Irkutsk–Listvyanka route, in the Selenga River delta and in the territory of the Baikal State Natural Biosphere Reserve were analyzed. The features of the spatial distribution of tracers from large industrial centers in the southern Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia along the prevailing air mass transfers were studied. The percentage of unfavorable meteorological situations in which emissions from regional anthropogenic pollution sources could reach the coast of Lake Baikal was determined based on the calculations of spatial distribution of anthropogenic impurities from large cities being sources of pollution (HYSPLIT). The model of spatial distribution of anthropogenic substances from the large industrial centers of the Baikal region along the prevailing air mass transfers was shown.