A bottom-landing water sampling system for the benthic boundary layer

Abstract

A novel water sampling device which enables vertical profiles of water samples to be obtained within the benthic boundary layer in shelf sea waters is described. A maximum of ten samples spread over 2 m immediately above the seabed can be obtained on each deployment. The design of the sample bottles minimizes disturbances to particle aggregates and positive displacement sampling ensures that the samples are representative of the environment. Suspended-solids profiles sampled in the benthic boundary layer over 15-hour period at a station in the English Channel are presented to demonstrate the utility of the system.