Southern California Outer Continental Shelf Baseline Studies: Intercalibration of Participating Hydrocarbon Laboratories

As part of the Bureau of Land Management´s Outer Continental Shelf Baseline Program in the Southern California Bight, a total of five different Hydrocarbon laboratories were involved in the analytical effort to measure petroleum hydrocarbons in marine samples. In this paper, we present the results of intra and inter-laboratory calibration exercises. These data demonstrate that comparable results can be generated by different environmental laboratories through careful adherence to established and controlled laboratory protocol and diligent efforts to intercalibrate the laboratories through varied sample exchange. Clearly, continued attention must be paid toward developing improved methodology for pollutant monitoring; however, our data illustrate a significant improvement in intra and inter-laboratory precision over other OCS programs to date.