Long-Term Exposure: Guideline for Practice

Book chapter, 2026

This chapter provides a technical guideline for the design and operation of long-term exposure sites in marine environments. The technical content includes the design of exposure site, the monitoring of environmental conditions, the monitoring of exposed specimens, the data management and the maintenance of exposure facilities. The design of exposure site covers the choice of exposure sites, the exposure infrastructure and facilities, exposure specimens and their placing and protection. Then, the guideline defines the environmental factors to be monitored and the corresponding monitoring methods. For the exposed specimens, the guideline specifies the target performance to monitor, the sampling, the testing and the reporting of exposure results. The data management deals with such aspects as the data storage, data transmission and the data sharing. At the end, the guideline gives the principles for the maintenance of the exposure facilities. This guideline summarizes the best practice of long-term exposure in marine environments, and it is expected to support the normalization of exposure practice and to generate more added values from this practice.