Many western limnologists have no or a very limited knowledge and understanding of limnology in the Soviet Union; the language barrier is simply too hermetic, and the threshold for making the effort (and spending the money) for obtaining translations of significant Russian works is usually too high for most Eu­ ropeans and North Americans. There is so much to read aside from that literature printed in the cyrillic al­ phabet that, not by intention or by design, but by sheer inertia, we tend to forget about it altogether. Of course, we are wrong, and we know it. Today, 'Hydrobiologia' is proud to present a theme volume by one of the active Soviet limnologist groups, ably steered by Nikolai Smirnov. Their target lake, Glubokoe ozero, is one of the better studied waters of the northern hemisphere, and the series of contributions included in this collection of papers aims both at illustrating this point and at making this interesting material widely available in a congress language. I am confident that 'Studies on Lake Glubokoe' will make a significant contribution to a well-merited better penetration of Russian science onto the world market. H. 1. Dumont Contents Preface.... ... . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . .. . .. . . . .. . ... ... . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . ... . ... . ..... . . . . V Lake Glubokoe (Moscow region, Eastern Europe), general characteristics by N. N. Smirnov .................................................................... .