Concentrated and gastight sampling technique of deepsea microplankton

Abstract

A new sampling method of deepsea microplankton with function of in-situ concentrated sampling and gastight sampling was proposed. In-situ concentrated sampling technique was realized as follows: a microplankton membrane was used as filtration membrane, and a deepsea pump was used to pump seawater; the microplankton was captured and the density of microplankton was increased when seawater flow through the filtration membrane. Gastight sampling technique was realized as follows: a precharged accumulator was used as pressure compensator. During the process of lifting the sampler, the accumulator compensated the pressure drop continuously. The laboratory experimental results show that with in-situ concentrated sampling technique, in-situ concentrated sampling can be realized and the maximum concentration ratio reaches up to 500. With pressure compensation technique based on accumulator, gastight sampling can be realized. When sampling at 6 km and the precharge pressure of accumulator is 18 MPa, pressure drop of the sample is less than 2% compared with its original pressure. Deepsea experiment (at 1.9 km) results show that the sampler can realize in-situ concentrated sampling and gastight sampling.