An approach for calculating a confidence interval from a single aquatic sample for monitoring hydrophobic organic contaminants.

ABSTRACT: The use of passive sampling devices (PSDs) for monitoring hydrophobic organic contaminants in aquatic environments can entail logistical constraints that often limit a comprehensive statistical sampling plan, thus resulting in a restricted number of samples. The present study demonstrates an approach for using the results of a pilot study designed to estimate sampling variability, which in turn can be used as variance estimates for confidence intervals for future n = 1 PSD samples of the same aquatic system. Sets of three to five PSDs were deployed in the Portland Harbor Superfund site for three sampling periods over the course of two years. The PSD filters were extracted and, as a composite sample, analyzed for 33 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds. The between-sample and within-sa

SUBMITTER: Matzke MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3581149 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature