Founded on June 23, 1969 by agreement between the Universidad Nacional del Sur, the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and the Argentine Navy, the Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (IADO) was the second institute of the CONICET, and had as first president of the organization the Argentine Nobel Prize, Bernardo Houssay.

Throughout its history, the institute has become a center for multi-disciplinary studies on various topics related to marine sciences, appreciated by the national and international scientific community for the quality of their research, their contributions to knowledge of the resources of the Argentine sea and their campaigns aboard the oceanographic vessels Puerto Deseado and Bernardo Houssay.

It is currently based at the Bahía Blanca Science and Technology Center (in the province of Buenos Aires).

Research fields include Hydrology, Weathe, Biological Oceanography, Physical Oceanography, Geological Oceanography and Geophysics, Chemical Oceanography and Oceanic and Coastal Engineering.