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To analyze plutonium (Pu) in open ocean waters can be challenging due to the low seawater concentrations. In this study we compared two techniques for Pu determination, one in-situ MnO 2 cartridge system and the more commonly used MnO 2 precipitation technique. During the pre-pilot GEOTRACES cruise ANT XXX-1 (2005) we tested MnO 2 cartridges for the pre-concentration of Pu from seawater at 19 sampling stations on a transect in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean between Vigo (Spain) and Cape Town (South Africa). Our in-situ sampling setup consisted of one particle cartridge followed by three MnO 2 cartridges in a series. Through the system we pumped between 956 and 2700 l of surface seawater with a flow rate between 1.6 and 5.2 l/min. We found that the adsorption efficiency of a single MnO 2 cartridge to adsorb Pu was rather constant and on average a 58 ± 7%. The adsorption efficiency was also found to be independent of seawater: temperature in the range of 18.3–29.2 °C, salinity range 34.2–37.1‰, and conductivity in the range of 46.8–58.4 mS/cm. In parallel with the in-situ sampling, discrete surface water samples between 259 and 281 l were taken and Pu was pre-concentrated using the MnO 2 precipitation method. We find a good agreement between the Pu concentrations determined with the two different techniques. The in-situ pre-concentration technique requires more radiochemical work in the laboratory but has the advantage that large seawater volumes can be sampled without the necessity for radiochemical processing on-board the ship. The much larger volumes sampled with the in-situ technique compared with the precipitation technique, enables accurate determination of Pu-isotopic ratios with a low relative standard deviation. We have shown in this study that in-situ MnO 2 cartridge technique can be used in a reliable way for the determination of dissolved Pu seawater concentration in open ocean waters. • Plutonium pre-concentration technique comparison: MnO 2 precipitation vs. in-situ MnO 2 cartridge. • Sea water parameters potentially affecting the in-situ MnO 2 cartridge Pu absorption efficiency are discussed. • The in-situ MnO 2 cartridge technique is robust for Pu determination and suitable for large sea water samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]