AMERIGO, un lander per la misura dei flussi bentici, dei parametri chimici e fisici e per il campionamento di acqua e sedimento all'interfaccia acqua-sedimento AMERIGO, a lander for benthic flux and chemical and physical parameter measurements and for the sampling of water and sediment at the sediment-water interface

AMERIGO is a lander able to reach the seafloor (up to 6000m) by gravity and to surfaces by floating without any cables. On the seafloor the lander can operate for few days by hosting different instruments (benthic chambers, microprofiler, corer, gravimeter, seismometer, penetrometer). In the present configuration AMERIGO measures dissolved benthic fluxes of various chemicals (CO2, dissolved inorganic and organic carbon, alkalinity, pH, nutrients, metals, methane, oxygen, and all anthropic or natural dissolved substances released or adsorbed by the sediment) by means of three benthic chambers equipped with: methane, pH, oxygen and turbidity probes, an oxystat (to keep constant oxygen concentration inside the chamber), a rotating paddle (to keep water homogeneity and the thickness of the benthic boundary layer and also to simulate resuspension) and an inside and outside water chamber sampler. The sampler can also inject tracers for specific investigations. AMERIGO is equipped also with a CTD probe and an underwater camera and is prepared also for an acoustic communication system.