The Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersible spend three days inspecting the Saint Petersburg mud volcano, which rests near the Olkhon Gates Strait.  Scientists from P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology and the Limnology Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences spend multiple hours visually inspecting the volcano and collecting sediment, water and underwater fauna samples.

The researchers set up a special instrument for automatically measuring the water’s methane concentration, and bring back samples of local gas hydrates and fauna.

The teams work at a depth of about 1,410 meter, spending between six and nine hours underwater in all.  All that effort rewards the hydro-geologists with their desired result – they find and describe new “provinces” of gas hydrate formations.  To help them better-study the gas hydrate formations, the oceanologists set up a special instrument called Lander, which the place directly opposite the Saint Petersburg mud volcano.  The device is essential to the job of automatically assessing any anomalies in the sediment’s methane concentration, measuring the chemical flux caused by potential gas hydrate emissions in the area, and discovering and estimating the new gas hydrate deposits’ resources.