Baltic Gas partner (RAS) within the Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Sciences (INMI) and the Atlantic Branch of the P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences (ABIO) is a Research Group for Biogeochemistry and Geoecology.

The activities of this group under WP3 and WP4 will concentrate on geophysical mapping and investigation of microbial and geochemical processes of the carbon and sulfur cycles in the sediments of the Russian sector of the Baltic Sea. INMI/ABIO has extensive experience in biogeochemistry of sulfur and carbon in marine environments. Over the last 30 years, INMI/ABIO has accumulated a broad data base on the sea floor properties, methane distribution, and microbial activity in the water column and sediments of diverse Baltic regions, including the data on activity of microbiological processes obtained with radioactive and stable isotopic tracers.

In the framework of the Baltic Gas projects, INMI/ABIO will organize several research cruises to the Russian sector of the Baltic Sea and obtain new data concerning the distribution of pockmarks and geoacoustic anomalies (AIO) along with the measurements of the role of microbial processes in methane production/ transformation in the sediments and water column (INMI).