In situ incubations with the Gothenburg benthic chamber landers: Applications and quality control

In situ incubations of sediment with overlying water provide valuable and consistent information about benthic fluxes and processes at the sediment-water interface. In this paper, we describe our experiences and a variety of applications from the last 14 years and 308 deployments with the Gothenburg benthic chamber lander systems. We give examples of how we use sensor measurements for chamber leakage control, in situ chamber volume determination, control of syringe sampling times, sediment resuspension and stirring quality. We present examples of incubation data for in situ measurements of benthic fluxes of oxygen, dissolved inorganic carbon, nutrients, metals and gases made with our chamber landers, as well as manipulative injection experiments to study nitrogen cycling (injections of N-15 nitrate), phosphate retention (injections of marl suspension) and targeted sediment resuspension. Our main goal is to demonstrate the possibilities that benthic chamber lander systems offer to measure solute fluxes and study processes at the sediment-water interface. Based on our experience, we recommend procedures to be used in order to obtain high quality data with benthic chamber landers.

Automated summary

This paper discusses the use of in situ incubations with sediment to study benthic fluxes and processes at sediment-water interfaces. The authors share their experiences and applications over 14 years and 308 deployments with the Gothenburg benthic chamber lander systems, showing examples of sensor measurements for control and manipulation experiments. They demonstrate the possibilities of benthic chamber lander systems for measuring solute fluxes and studying processes at sediment-water interfaces, providing recommendations for obtaining high-quality data.