A method for identifying and sampling target materials with an autonomous buoy monitoring system comprising one or more buoys, comprising: deploying one or more buoys to a location in a body of water, wherein at least one of the one or more buoys has a buoy monitoring section that includes a measurement component and a sampling component, wherein the sampling component comprises a sampling assembly comprising a plurality of individual sample containers; obtaining measurement data associated with the body of water with the measurement component; determining whether target material is present in the measurement data, wherein the target material comprises one or more of biological, chemical or, hydrocarbon, substance and any combination thereof; wherein determining whether target material is present comprises pumping a fluid from the body of water through a target measurement device to indicate the presence of target material; obtaining a sample of the target material with the sampling component when the measurement data indicates the presence of the target material; and storing the obtained sample in one or more of the individual sample containers, characterized in that : - the target measurement device comprises a mass spectrometer; and - each sample container includes sampling material or a sampling vessel that is deployed from the sample container and then retrieved back into the sample container to obtain a sample of the target material; and wherein determining whether the target material is present further comprises: ∘ notifying the sampling component to obtain the sample if the target material is present. deploying one or more buoys to a location in a body of water, wherein at least one of the one or more buoys has a buoy monitoring section that includes a measurement component and a sampling component, wherein the sampling component comprises a sampling assembly comprising a plurality of individual sample containers; obtaining measurement data associated with the body of water with the measurement component; determining whether target material is present in the measurement data, wherein the target material comprises one or more of biological, chemical or, hydrocarbon, substance and any combination thereof; wherein determining whether target material is present comprises pumping a fluid from the body of water through a target measurement device to indicate the presence of target material; obtaining a sample of the target material with the sampling component when the measurement data indicates the presence of the target material; and storing the obtained sample in one or more of the individual sample containers, characterized in that : - the target measurement device comprises a mass spectrometer; and - each sample container includes sampling material or a sampling vessel that is deployed from the sample container and then retrieved back into the sample container to obtain a sample of the target material; - the target measurement device comprises a mass spectrometer; and - each sample container includes sampling material or a sampling vessel that is deployed from the sample container and then retrieved back into the sample container to obtain a sample of the target material; and wherein determining whether the target material is present further comprises: ∘ notifying the sampling component to obtain the sample if the target material is present. ∘ notifying the sampling component to obtain the sample if the target material is present. <EOS>