Comparison of Preservation Techniques for Estuarine Water Samples for Analysis of Organic Carbon Fractions

摘要

A comprehensive comparison study was funded to determine whether freezing of water quality samples is an acceptable method of preservation. Virginia Institute of Marine Science performed a comparison of five preservation treatments for eight water quality parameters. The State of Maryland conducted a comparison of three preservation techniques for particulate nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon samples. Old Dominion University provided the laboratory analyses for Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and Dissolved Oxygen Carbon (DOC). The report is the statistical analysis and graphical presentation of these data. Although all five techniques showed no significant differences over short periods of time, it is suggested that freezing becomes somewhat questionable when held for 28 days or more.