Today, submersions that took place near the Saint Petersburg underwater mud volcano near the Olkhonskie Vorota strait were completed successfully. Scientific experts from the Institute of Limnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences took part in the Mir-1 submersion program. They collected biological object samples, related to the study of underwater fluids and deposits of gas-hydrates. For the first time they discovered strange spherical formations whose nature is yet obscure, but it is possible that the scientists have found unusual forms of organic compounds.

The crew of Mir-2 with scientists from Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences on board carried out a thorough exploration of gas-hydrates concentration areas. Particularly, they delivered a special transparent container that serves for collection of gas-hydrates and bringing them up to the lake surface. The crew collected gas bubbles, studied the process of their hydration in the near-bottom environment, and mounted special equipment – a Lender device that measures methane flows, and the so-called ‘traps with thermal gauges’ that serve to capture the composition of gaseous methane fractions.