Research lines and major tasks:

• fundamental and applied research in geoinformatics, development of geological and geophysical applications of artificial intelligence methods, geoinformation systems, and GRID systems;
• creation of many-layered and multifunctional geoinformation system on the territory of Russia and CIS countries;
• providing information for research conducted by the Department of Earth sciences RAS, functioning of the Russian World Data Centers on the Physics of the Solid Earth and Solar-Terrestrial Physics; 
• creation, maintenance and development of distributed databases, internet resources and knowledge bases on geophysics, geology, space physics and other earth sciences; 
• research in stress and strain, modern crustal movements and rock destruction processes for the purposes of geoecology, seismology, geodynamics and natural risk assessment;
• research in geophysical fields and processes in different spheres of the Earth including hydrosphere, ionosphere, near-Earth space and Solar-Terrestrial relations;
• elaboration and adaptation of information society technologies to solving problems of geophysics and geoinformatics;
• development of new methods of electronic publications and putting them into practice;   
• creation of international virtual laboratory on electromagnetic monitoring of earthquakes and volcanoes.

The Geophysical Center participates in the programs of RAS Presidium and the Department of Earth Sciences:

• “Elaboration of principles to create scientific information distributed computer system on the basis of GRID technologies”;
• “Geodynamics of interactions between the geospheres”;
• “The history of the Arctic Ocean basin formation and the conditions of modern natural processes in Arctic regions by the program of the International Polar Year 2007-2008”;
• “Fundamental problems of geology, conditions of formation and principles of prediction of conventional and new types of large-scale deposits of strategic mineral resources”.

In GC RAS large research projects are carried out that are supported from grants of the Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research:

• “Research of mechanisms and manifestations of activation of fluidal and metamorphic origin and of magmatic activation with the use of fuzzy logic algorithms”;
• “Development of the structural-tectonic model of geodynamic processes in active orogeny zones”;
• “Research in annual and seasonal variability of hydrologic and hydrodynamic conditions of the Caspian Sea from remote sounding data”;
• “The process of potential earthquake source formation: the analogy of phase transition and computer modeling”;
• “Seismicity and deformation of the Earth's crust for geodynamic research” and others.

Results of fundamental scientific research in artificial intelligence methods, GRID technologies, geoinformation systems, and digital mapping are successfully introduced into practice of applied research to carry out the Ministry of Defense order and to meet the needs of Moscow and of leading world companies (“Microsoft”, “Alrosa”).

According to the decision of the Russian Academy of Science and relevant international organizations, the Geophysical Center is:

• The official Russian node of the World Data Centers international network of the International Council of Science (ICSU);
• The Russian center of the International Geodetic and Geophysical Union and base body of the National Geophysical Committee (NGC);
• The Russian center for international organization CODATA (Committee on Data for Science and Technology ICSU) and basic organization of CODATA Russian National Committee;
• The central node of the distributed system Space Physics Interactive Data Resource (SPIDR) aimed at research in space weather.

Recent international projects are projects with UNESCO, UNIDO, International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), Center of Scientific Research of France (CNRS) by foundation of Virtual Electromagnetic Laboratory, The US National Geophysical Data Center, work associated with the International Polar Year, projects “Geotraverse”, promotion of information society technologies to Baltic countries and CIS countries, telematic cooperation between EC and CIS in business, science, dissemination and use of GRID in Earth sciences, Microsoft, TOXICAL, Leonardo da Vinci and ISTC projects.