Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, A1B 3X5, Canada.
Environ Monit Assess. 2019 Apr 8;191(5):270. doi: 10.1007/s10661-019-7392-5.
Oil fingerprinting is a crucial technology to trace the sources and behaviors of spilled oil. The use of dispersants enhances the stay of dispersed oil in a water column and changes the important properties of spilled oil. In case of fingerprinting of dispersed oil driven by dispersants, the fate and behaviors of biomarkers may be affected by the application of dispersants. Limited studies have investigated the statistical difference between fingerprinting of dispersed oil and non-dispersed oil using biomarkers, and the possible influence of the differences, if present. This study applied several principal component analyses (PCA) to differentiate weathered chemically dispersed oil from weathered crude (non-dispersed) oil using 103 diagnostic ratios of the same type of biomarkers and those of two types of biomarkers as input data. It showed that weathered chemically dispersed oil (CDO) can be differentiated from weathered crude oil (WCO) using specific diagnostic ratios that are affected by weathering. PCA analyses indicated the effects of the application of dispersants and weathering duration on weathering of biomarkers in CDO and WCO.
油指纹分析是追踪溢油来源和行为的关键技术。分散剂的使用可以增强分散油在水柱中的停留时间，并改变溢油的重要性质。在由分散剂驱动的分散油指纹分析中，生物标志物的命运和行为可能会受到分散剂应用的影响。目前，很少有研究调查使用生物标志物对分散油和非分散油进行指纹分析的统计差异，以及如果存在差异的可能影响。本研究应用了几种主成分分析（PCA），使用相同类型生物标志物的 103 个诊断比和两种类型生物标志物的诊断比作为输入数据，区分了化学分散油和风化原油（非分散）油。结果表明，使用受风化影响的特定诊断比可以将化学分散油（CDO）与风化原油（WCO）区分开来。PCA 分析表明，分散剂的应用和风化时间对 CDO 和 WCO 中生物标志物风化的影响。
