https://cdn.earthdata.nasa.gov/conduit/upload/5182/KeywordsCommunityGuide_Baseline_v1_SIGNED_FINAL.pdf 23.6 2026-03-19T10:41:57.720Z https://gcmd.earthdata.nasa.gov/KeywordViewer/scheme/providers/74667bc8-4e5a-4476-b46e-890b813bca4d RU/RAS/SIO The P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academyof Sciences (formerly of the USSR Academy of Sciences) wasestablished on January 31, 1946, by a resolution of thePresidium ol' the USSR Academy of Sciences on the basis of theLaboratory of Oceanology set up in 1941. The resolution of thePresidium defined the Institute's main functions as researchinto theoretical problems of oceanology, complex investigationof physical, chemical, biological and geological processes inthe seas and oceans as an interrelated entirety. Together withP.P.Shirshov, the Institute's first Director, the well-knownscientists like L.A.Zenkevich, V.G.Bogorov, S.VBruyevich,A.D.Dobrovolsky, P.L.Bezrukov, I.D.Papanin, V.B.Shtockman andothers, most of them young enthusiastic researchers, took anactive part in the formation of the Institute of Oceanology.In 1949, the Institute obtained its first research vessel'Vityaz' (displacement: 5710 tons) re-equipped specifically forocean studies, which became, in essence, a floating researchinstitute. Practically all scientific activity of the Instituteduring the ensuing decades was based on the unique datacollected by 236 expeditions of the now legendary'Vityaz'. Starting with comprehensive investigations in theFar-Eastern seas, the 'Vityaz' soon came out into the vasts ofthe Pacific and the Indian oceans and completed her gloriousexpeditions in the Atlantic Ocean. Now the ship is at hereternal. mooring at the port of Kaliningrad as part of the WorldOcean Museum.Year by year the Institute's research fleet kept growing toincorporate new large-capacity vessels 'Akademik Kurchatov','Dmitry Mendeleev', 'Akademik Mstislav Keldysh', 'ProfessorShtockman', 'Rift' and then a new 'Vityaz' and the acousticvessels 'Akademik Sergei Vavilov' and 'Akademik loffe' fitted upwith modern research equipment, as well as small-capacityvessels. The Institute owns 5 manned underwater researchvehicles - two 'MIR' submersibles capable of diving to a depthof 6 km, two 'PISCES' submersibles (to a depth of 2 km) and an'Argus' vehicle (to a depth of 600 m).The Institute's marine expeditions, the basis of its scientificactivity, have covered almost the whole World Ocean area fromthe Arctic regions to Antarctica, all the oceans and most of thesea basins of the Earth. Studies in them have involved all themain fields of ocean science and have resulted in manyoutstanding discoveries.At the present time the Institute of Oceanology is a largescientific centre with 800 research associates and over-allstaff of more than 2,000 members (crews of research vesselsincluded). The Institute is capable of conducting theoreticaland experimental research into a variety of processes andphenomena in the World Ocean. In addition to the major researchcentre in Moscow, the Institute has two departments - theAtlantic in Kaliningrad and the Southern near Gelendjik on theBlack Sea coast, as well as a branch in St.-Petersburg. Workingin close contact with the Moscow centre they carry outindependent studies and serve as bases for research vessels.Website: 'http://www.sio.rssi.ru/'[Summary provided by P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology,Russian Academy of Science.]