Chemical and biological characterisation of slicks off the German coast of the Baltic Sea in June of 2024 at 9 stations

To characterise slicks chemically and biologically, on 13th, 16th and 18th of June 2024, slicks and underlying water (depth 1m) were sampled at a total of 9 closely clustered stations in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Warnemünde, Germany. On 13.06. and 16.06. samples were taken in the evening, on the 18.06. samples were taken in the morning. On site, salinity (portable Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)-meter CO-330), water temperature (portable Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)-meter CO-330), wind speed (hand-held anemometer model MS6252A) and light intensity (Galaxy Sensors phone app v.1.10.1) were measured. Slick samples were taken with a glass plate sampler (), samples of the underlying water were taken by a syringe connected to a weighted hose. The samples were fixed as needed and analysed for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration, total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) concentration, surfactant (SAS) concentration, viral particle concentration and cellular abundance of phytoplankton in different size classes (pico-, nano- and microphytoplankton). DOC and TDN concentrations were analysed by high temperature catalytic combustion, SAS concentrations by the voltametric technique with a hanging mercury drop electrode (Ćosović and Vojvodić 1998; Rickard et al. 2019). The concentrations of viral particles and phytoplankton were assessed by flowcytometry (BD Accuri C6 flow cytometer).