Long time-series monitoring of the ecosystem at Deception Island, Antarctica: description of instrumentation

A description of the oceanographic instrumentation developed and deployed at Deception Island, Antarctica during the period 9 March 1999 to 20 November 2000 as part of the ERUPT program is presented. This instrumentation includes (1) an autonomous weather station (Terrestrial station) to record daily conditions and ice-cover, (2) an underwater time-lapse camera/sediment trap array to photograph the abundance and movements of bottom-dwelling animals and collect sinking particulate matter, (3) an acoustic array to monitor movements of macrozooplankton and nekton, (4) an autonomous, vertically profiling pump sampler to capture and preserve plankton and nekton from discrete depths, (5) thermistor arrays to record water temperature at various depths, (6) an acoustic Doppler profiler to record current velocities at discrete depths, and (7) a piston-operated grab respirometer to measure sediment community oxygen consumption and recover sediments. The Terrestrial station and thermistor arrays, current meter and grab respirometer were the most successful instruments deployed, producing large data sets. The acoustic array produced some data of limited value, while the camera tripod and pump sampler produced no useful data due to technical and operational problems.