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NOAA Study on Field Equipment Cleaning Techniques Accepted for Publication
February 8, 2021 — After the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, field teams collected tens of thousands of samples to analyze for oil constituents as part of a natural resource damage assessment. Care was exercised to avoid cross-contamination by cleaning equipment between samples.
Some published guidelines recommend using organic solvents in the cleaning routine, but carrying such liquids in the field raises health, safety, and environmental issues. In a partnership between two NOAA offices, the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and the Office of Response and Restoration, a study team analyzed several cleaning techniques to compare their efficacy, using sediments spiked with crude oil.
A manuscript of the study and its results has just been accepted for publication in the scientific journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research. The paper will provide evidence-based justification for choices made by field teams in future field sampling efforts. The study was previously published as a NOAA Tech Memo.
For more information, contact Greg.Baker@noaa.gov.