SISI: A New Device for In Situ Incubations at the Ocean Surface

The sea-surface microlayer (SML) forms the uppermost boundary layer between atmosphere and ocean, and has distinctive physico-chemical and biological features compared to the underlying water. First findings on metabolic contributions of microorganisms to gas exchange processes across the SML raised the need for new in situ technologies to explore plankton-oxygen turnover in this special habitat. Here, we describe an inexpensive research tool, the Surface In Situ Incubator (SISI), which allows simultaneous incubations of the SML, and water samples from 1 m and 5 m, at the respective depths of origin. The SISI is deployed from a small boat, seaworthy up to 5 bft (Beaufort scale), and due to global positioning system (GPS) tracking, capable of drifting freely for hours or days. We tested the SISI by applying light/dark bottle incubations in the Baltic Sea and the tropical Pacific Ocean under various conditions to present first data on planktonic oxygen turnover rates within the SML, and two subsurface depths. The SISI offers the potential to study plankton-oxygen turnover within the SML under the natural influence of abiotic parameters, and hence, is a valuable tool to routinely monitor their physiological role in biogeochemical cycling and gas exchange processes at, and near, the sea surface.