Research Planning, Inc, 1121 Park Street, Columbia, SC, 29201, USA,
Environ Monit Assess. 2013 Dec;185(12):10281-95. doi: 10.1007/s10661-013-3332-y. Epub 2013 Jul 13.
The Special Monitoring of Applied Response Technologies (SMART) program was used during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as a strategy to monitor the effectiveness of sea surface dispersant use. Although SMART was implemented during aerial and vessel dispersant applications, this analysis centers on the effort of a special dispersant missions onboard the M/V International Peace, which evaluated the effectiveness of surface dispersant applications by vessel only. Water samples (n = 120) were collected from background sites, and under naturally and chemically dispersed oil slicks, and were analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (TPAHs), total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), and a chemical marker of Corexit (dipropylene glycol n-butyl ether, DPnB). Water chemistry results were analyzed relative to SMART field assessments of dispersant effectiveness ("not effective," "effective," and "very effective"), based on in situ fluorometry. Chemistry data were also used to indirectly determine if the use of dispersants increased the risk of acute effects to water column biota, by comparison to toxicity benchmarks. TPAH and TPH concentrations in background, and naturally and chemically dispersed samples were extremely variable, and differences were not statistically detected across sample types. Ratios of TPAH and TPH between chemically and naturally dispersed samples provided a quantitative measure of dispersant effectiveness over natural oil dispersion alone, and were in reasonable agreement with SMART field assessments of dispersant effectiveness. Samples from "effective" and "very effective" dispersant applications had ratios of TPAH and TPH up to 35 and 64, respectively. In two samples from an "effective" dispersant application, TPHs and TPAHs exceeded acute benchmarks (0.81 mg/L and 8 μg/L, respectively), while none exceeded DPnB's chronic value (1,000 μg/L). Although the primary goal of the SMART program is to provide near real-time effectiveness data to the response, and not to address concerns regarding acute biological effects, the analyses presented here demonstrate that SMART can generate information of value to a larger scientific audience. A series of recommendations for future SMART planning are also provided.
应用响应技术特殊监测（SMART）计划在墨西哥湾深水地平线石油泄漏期间被用作监测海表分散剂使用效果的策略。尽管 SMART 在航空和船只分散剂应用期间实施，但本分析侧重于 M/V International Peace 号船上的特殊分散剂任务的努力，该任务仅通过船只评估了表面分散剂应用的效果。从背景地点、自然和化学分散油膜下采集了水样（n = 120），并分析了多环芳烃（TPAHs）、总石油烃（TPH）和分散剂的化学标志物（二丙二醇正丁醚，DPnB）。根据现场荧光计评估的分散剂效果（“无效”、“有效”和“非常有效”）对水质化学结果进行了分析。还使用化学数据通过与毒性基准进行比较，间接确定使用分散剂是否会增加水柱生物急性效应的风险。背景、自然和化学分散样品中的 TPAH 和 TPH 浓度变化非常大，并且在样品类型之间没有检测到统计学差异。化学和自然分散样品中 TPAH 和 TPH 的比值提供了单独自然油分散之外的分散剂效果的定量衡量标准，并且与 SMART 现场评估的分散剂效果一致。来自“有效”和“非常有效”分散剂应用的样品中，TPAH 和 TPH 的比值分别高达 35 和 64。在两次“有效”分散剂应用的样品中，TPH 和 TPAH 超过了急性基准（分别为 0.81mg/L 和 8μg/L），而 DPnB 没有超过慢性值（1000μg/L）。尽管 SMART 计划的主要目标是为应对措施提供近实时的效果数据，而不是解决急性生物效应问题，但这里提出的分析表明，SMART 可以为更广泛的科学受众提供有价值的信息。还为未来的 SMART 规划提供了一系列建议。
