The laboratory was founded in 1989 under the name "Laboratory of Aerospace Methods of Ocean Research". The first and many years of its leader was V.N. Pelevin. After the death of V.N. In 2005, Pelevin headed the laboratory of P.O. Zavialov, who leads it to date.

Due to a slight shift in the main research topics, the laboratory was renamed and acquired its current name in 2006. It should be noted, however, that the development of methods for remote sensing of the ocean is still one of the activities of the team. So, in recent years, the developed by V.N. Pelevin's method of laser mapping of chlorophyll concentration fields, suspended matter and dissolved organic substances, including pollutants, while the vessel is in motion by analyzing the spectra of stimulated fluorescence of the ocean surface. This method provides a very high horizontal resolution (from the first meters), almost unattainable by any other means. Specialists of the laboratory have created and tested in natural conditions of different seas prototypes of new equipment - ultraviolet fluorescent lidars. The team has also developed its own algorithms for calculating satellite images of surface sea currents (the so-called “method of maximum cross-correlation”), the spread of river flow and suspension transfer. The laboratory also includes a separate group of ocean synoptic processes.

Nevertheless, the center of gravity of the laboratory research now lies in the field of natural research of the coastal zone of the seas and inland waters. Our research interests focus on the processes of interaction of the ocean with the freshwater continental runoff, as well as the mechanisms of anthropogenic pressure on marine and coastal systems, including anthropogenic pollution of the marine environment. The main thematic areas of recent years are the development of the own Lagrangian numerical model of river plumes in the sea, an assessment of the pollution of the seas near the mouths of a number of rivers, the detection of groundwater discharge into the sea, a forecast of the risk of underwater landslides and others. One of the central places in these studies is occupied by the Black Sea, in which specialized field observations are conducted annually for more than 10 years. The geography of the expeditionary research laboratories also includes the Caspian, Kara, South China seas, the Atlantic shelf of South America and several large inland waters. Our scientific credo includes the idea of ​​the unity of oceanology, limnology and hydrology of land - we believe that modern methods and means of oceanological research can and should be applied not only to the ocean and the seas, but also to lakes and reservoirs. In recent years, laboratory workers have carried out field measurements on the lakes Balaton and Issyk-Kul, as...

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