AMERIGO and CBA: a new lander and a new automatic benthic chamber for dissolved benthic flux measurements

Abstract

Shallow and deep marine environments are presently subject to strong ecological alterations due to anthropic activities, inputs of chemical pollutants and solid dumps on the sea bottom, or to global processes such as ocean acidification and global climate changes. These alterations can result in variations of the chemistry and of the trophic status of the sea water column, changes in the biogeochemical cycle of chemical elements as well as pollution phenomena, both in the sea bottom sediment and sea water column. To study the biogeochemical cycles of substances affected by the anthropic alteration in shallow and deep marine environments we realized two devices for measuring the fluxes of dissolved chemicals between the sediment and the water column: the Lander Amerigo and the Automatic Benthic Chamber (CBA). Amerigo is a lander able to operate both in shallow and deep marine environments (up to 6000 m depth) while the CBA can be employed on the continental shelf (up to 200 m depth). Moreover, the Lander Amerigo can be used also to deploy on the seafloor different types of instruments for the study of the benthic ecosystems. At present the CBA has been successfully employed in various research projects in shallow environments and environmental anthropic activity evaluations while Amerigo has been successfully deployed and tested in medium and deep marine environments. First datum fluxes, measured both by Amerigo and CBA, show good results, these are consistent with each other and with previous data.