Incubators

Incubators are special tubes that are placed on the seafloor for several months or years to investigate biological and geochemical processes. Because the contents of the incubators are known, they enable us to perform controlled experiments on the bottom of the seafloor – under the pressures, temperatures and nutrient availability relevant for the deep-sea hydrothermal systems. This year, CGB researchers will place both microbial incubators, that allow us to study the changes in the microbiology in a controlled system over a long period of time, as well as geochemical incubators by which we study alteration processes on the bottom of the Arctic ocean.

A pristine microbial incubator, placed on the seafloor in 2006. 

The same incubator, just before collection in 2008.