Testing of a benthic incubation chamber design in a Virginia coastal bay, 2023, 2024, and 2025

Benthic incubation chambers enclose a known volume of water overlying a known area to measure water chemistry changes and are typically used to quantify the metabolic activity of benthic organisms or communities. Here, we report data from a series of tests validating a new benthic incubation chamber design. This data includes dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations and temperatures recorded during three test deployments in South Bay, Virginia during August 2023 (T1_chamber_do_test_data), as well as data from light transmission tests. Light transmission tests included per wavelength transmission of PAR and ultraviolet radiation through the chamber wall (T2_wall_transmission_test) and lid (T3_lid_transmission_test), an in-situ PAR transmission comparison for two different sensor arrangements (side-mounted versus top-mounted) during July 2025 (T4_sensor_shading_test), and an in-situ comparison of natural ambient PAR versus PAR translated through a deployed chamber during March 2024 (T5_in_situ_light_test).

底栖培养舱（Benthic incubation chambers）可将覆盖于既定区域上方的既定体积水体进行封闭，用于监测水体化学变化，通常被用于量化底栖生物或底栖群落的代谢活动。本次研究公开了一系列用于验证新型底栖培养舱设计的测试数据。这些数据涵盖2023年8月于弗吉尼亚州南湾开展的三次现场部署试验中记录的溶解氧（dissolved oxygen, DO）浓度与温度数据（T1_chamber_do_test_data），以及各类透光测试相关数据。透光测试具体包含以下内容：培养舱舱壁（T2_wall_transmission_test）与舱盖（T3_lid_transmission_test）对光合有效辐射（Photosynthetically Active Radiation, PAR）及紫外线辐射的各波长透过率；2025年7月开展的两种传感器布置方案（侧装式与顶装式）的原位光合有效辐射透过率对比试验数据（T4_sensor_shading_test）；以及2024年3月开展的自然环境原位光合有效辐射与经部署培养舱传导后的光合有效辐射的原位对比试验数据（T5_in_situ_light_test）。