has been used successfully in previous and subsequent oil spill inves- 

 tigations (e.g., Argo Merchant and Amoco Cadiz); however, in the Tsesis 

 study, water samples were allowed to remain in the sample bags (albeit 

 refrigerated) for times ranging from one day to one week. The analysis 

 of the water sample extracts and subsequent chemical evaluation of the 

 effect of the plastic bags, have been reported by Boehm and Feist (1977, 

 1978) under contract to OCSEAP. The major conclusions of this study 

 were : 



(1) Organic compounds begin leaching from the sample bags almost 

 immediately, reaching levels of 50-100 (Jg/1 well within 24 

 hours . 



(2) Gas chromatography and fluorescence results confirm that 

 losses of sampled hydrocarbons (water soluble fraction of the 

 Tsesis cargo) occur after 15 minutes of interaction with the 

 sampler, and are total after 36 hours. 



(3) The Tsesis data set cannot be interpreted due to the effects 

 of the polyethylene bags. The spectra of many Tsesis samples 

 are identical to that of the bag leachate. Those few samples 

 which exhibited spectra similar to Tsesis oil, "Type B" , 

 revealed only very low concentrations. Considering the effect 

 of the plastic bag, this presence of hydrocarbons (other than 

 bag leachates) in some samples, would be the probable result 

 of either high initial concentrations in the environment or 

 relatively short storage times. 



It was unfortunate that SOR Team personnel also instructed Swedish 

 scientists on the use of the plastic bag sampler, and encouraged those 

 procedures over the use of glass jars in all water column sampling for 

 hydrocarbon analysis. Later success using the plastic bag sampler at 

 the site of the Amoco Cadiz spill is attributed to the immediate (within 

 2 minutes) transfer of the sample water to glass containers. 



89 



