Ref. No. [UMCES]CBL 2013-015
ACT VS12-02
downloaded from the test instruments or captured through independent dataloggers. The report
includes means, standard deviations, and number of replicates of laboratory determined Diesel
Range Organics, Volatile Hydrocarbons, EEMS, Absorbance, CDOM and Chlorophyll values for
corresponding reference samples at the same time, position, or depth of the instrument
measurements. The report also includes turbidity values for each sample measured on site using
a Hach Turbidimeter which was used for all laboratory and field tests. Instruments were tested
under four different applications, including: (1) laboratory tests with known additions of variance
hydrocarbons; (2) a wave tank test with known additions of crude oil with and without
dispersant; (3) a moored deployment in Baltimore Harbor; and (4) vertical profiling deployments
in the Gulf of Mexico at a site with known leaking bunker oil. A summary of the testing
protocols is provided below. A complete description of the testing protocols is available in the
report,
Protocols for the ACT Verification of In Situ Hydrocarbon Sensors
(ACT PV11-01) and
can be downloaded from the ACT website
.
Analysis of Reference Samples
Hydrocarbon concentrations
Diesel range hydrocarbons (C10 to C36) and volatile organic hydrocarbons were
analyzed by using GC-FID by the contract laboratory, Test America (West Sacramento Lab),
following their internal SOP’s based on EPA SW846 Method 8015B, C. The Laboratory
provides reporting limits of 50 ppb for this hydrocarbon range. Reference samples were
collected in certified pre-cleaned amber glass bottles supplied by Test America. Bottles were
filled, stored and shipped according to their SOP’s. Reference samples, along with sampling
blanks, were shipped to the contract lab not more than three days after collection to meet their
holding time requirements.
Excitation Emission Matrix Spectroscopy (EEMS)
A SPEX ISA Fluoromax-2 scanning spectrofluorometer, operated in ratio mode, was
used to generate room temperature (22 ± 1°C) EEM fluorescence spectra for all reference
samples. To optimize sample throughput, fluorescence spectra were determined over an
excitation range of 230-500 nm at 5 nm intervals and an emission range of 300 – 600 nm at 3 nm
intervals. For each scan, an integration time of 1 second was used, and bandpass widths were set
to 5 nm for both excitation and emission spectrometers. Xenon lamp intensity as well as
emission monochrometer performance were verified and recalibrated once per day according to
the instrument manual.
For all generated EEM’s, dark counts were subtracted and spectra were subsequently
corrected for wavelength-dependent instrument effects using ISA-supplied and user-generated
correction files. Fluorescence spectra intensities were then normalized to the area under the
Raman peak, determined daily using MilliQ water (Murphy, 2011; Murphy et al. 2010). This
value exhibited less than 2% variation over the length of the study period. In addition to daily
Raman scans, daily EEM’s of MilliQ water were generated as background blanks and were
subtracted from all subsequent sample EEM’s. At the beginning and end of each analytical batch
a four-point calibration curve (0-50 ppb) of Quinine Sulfate (QS) in 50 mM H
2
SO
4
was run to
track drift in fluorometer response over time. The QS response factor was used to standardize
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