An expedition abroad the R/V Professor Gagaranskii was conducted in the water area of the north-western shelf of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Tatar Strait to study the production and destruction of organic matter, as well as the biochemical processes governing the distribution and accumulation of particulate and dissolves forms of microelements (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cs, Ni, Pb) in a coastal and estuary ecosystems.
The main aim of the expedition was comprehensive hydrological, hydrochemical, hydrobiological, and geochemical observations on the northeasten slope of Sakhalin Island; in the estuaries of the Usalgin, Ulban, Tugur, and Uda rivers and their adjacent water areas (Shantar archipelago); in the estuary of the Amur River and adjacent water areas (Sakhalin Bay, Tatar Strait); and in the estuary of the Tumnin River.