In early 2012 I got a little obsessed with the Novosibirsk Reservoir on the Ob River, aka "the sea". My city, Novosibirsk, emerged at the turn of the 20th century as the site of the Trans-Siberian Railroad bridge over the Ob. In the 1950s, a hydroelectric power plant was built on the river, creating a 100 mile long artificial lake. The grand undertaking flooded several villages and part of the city of Berdsk, as well as swaths of fertile land and forest. For all that flooding, the hydroelectric dam is actually pretty small and doesn't meet the city's full electrical needs. However, the construction of the dam was a bonus when physicist Mikhail Lavrentyev was looking for a place to build an academic center with "an attractive site, railroad connections, and plenty of electric power". So that was the origin of Akademgorodok, where I grew up. We spent the summers at the beach on the reservoir. The lake has its issues, including pollution and erosion, but that's not how I experienced it. Anyway, I took some photos. (I'll be adding more soon.) I'd like to be there for an algae bloom one year!