Issyk-Kul

<p>Issyk-Kul  or Ysyk-Köl (<a href="/facts/Kyrgyz_language/jnuN76wT">Kyrgyz</a>: Ысык-Көл, IPA: [ɯsɯ́q kʰɵ́l]; lit. 'Warm Lake') is an <a href="/facts/Endorheic/0CHdGUlG">endorheic</a> <a href="/facts/Saline_lake/gEtjt4Rl">saline lake</a> in the western <a href="/facts/Tianshan_Mountains/2WxpayoN">Tianshan Mountains</a> in eastern <a href="/facts/Kyrgyzstan/MSNdCp8u">Kyrgyzstan</a>, just south of a <a href="/facts/Dividing_range/47p3QtJU">dividing range</a> separating Kyrgyzstan from <a href="/facts/Kazakhstan/Vfs8NI6e">Kazakhstan</a>. It is the <a href="/facts/List_of_lakes_by_depth/3t8lr5CK">eighth-deepest lake in the world</a>, the <a href="/facts/List_of_lakes_by_volume/1fWjsYvE">eleventh-largest lake in the world by volume</a> (though not in surface area), the deepest lake whose deepest point is above sea level (939 meters or 3,080 feet), and the third-largest saline lake. Although it is located at a lofty elevation of 1,607 metres (5,272 ft) and subject to severe cold during winter, it rarely freezes over due to high <a href="/facts/Salinity/X6mB1YAM">salinity</a>, hence its name, which in the <a href="/facts/Kyrgyz_language/jnuN76wT">Kyrgyz language</a> means "warm lake".
</p><p>The lake is a <a href="/facts/Ramsar_Convention/4lyNpbp7">Ramsar</a> site of globally significant <a href="/facts/Biodiversity/GruakEzs">biodiversity</a> and forms part of the Issyk-Kul Biosphere Reserve.
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Issyk-Kul open-in-new

Issyk-Kul