Field Trial Comparing Two Materials for Marine Oil Sheen Sampling

Abstract

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) uses fiberglass material for forensic analysis of oil sheens, while the United States Coast Guard (USCG) method uses a tetrafluoroetheylene-fluorocarbon (TFE-fluorocarbon) polymer net. We performed a field trial of these two materials by sampling natural oil seeps, two in Santa Monica Bay, and three sheen areas in the Santa Barbara Channel. Though the fiberglass material did collect less mass on some trials, the forensic chemistry results demonstrated that both materials were satisfactory for purposes of chemical forensic analysis as each pair of the sampling materials yielded results that were consistent with a common oil seep source.