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Post by Jay T. Cullen on Oct 20, 2014 9:40:30 GMT -8
Welcome to our new forum dedicated to organizing citizen science volunteers involved in the InFORM project. We are in the process of setting up for the collection of first samples in various coastal communities in BC. Just last week the first InFORM sample was collected by a group of Victoria based volunteers. You can check here to see how the network is being organized in your community. As I have stated before, in the larger population centres where we have many volunteers we will be setting up team leaders to take charge of the community forum here and help to coordinate volunteers to take responsibility for a given monthly sampling trip. If volunteers are traveling from Victoria to other InFORM sampling communities we will have a "Drive Board" where a sampling kit might hitch a ride to its destination. Stay tuned here for more information. |
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Post by Andre Sobolewski on Oct 20, 2014 11:13:19 GMT -8
It would be helpful to have practical information on sampling procedures and requirements.
1. Will we be supplied with sampling bottles? Will they be ready to use? Do they need to be rinsed three times with seawater before collecting the sample or should a sample be collected at once? How many samples do we collect? Field blanks? Are there other QA/QC procedures we need to know?
2. Do we need nitrile gloves? A notebook? Camera? GPS to geo-reference the sample location? Containers/coolers with ice-packs?
3. Is there anything that we need to worry about that would invalidate the sample results? Procedures? Holding time? Anything?
4. Will the bottles/containers be pre-labelled and pre-addressed labels be supplied to ship the samples? Will the results from the analytical lab be sent to you? What about us?
5. If a sample produces a positive result, with significant radioactivity being reported, are we at personal risk of exposure? Do we need to do something about it?
There may be other questions, but this is a good start.
I look forward to your response.
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Post by Jay T. Cullen on Oct 20, 2014 11:18:38 GMT -8
Hi Andre,
The short answer is that the kits are self-contained and come with detailed sampling instructions. Return shipping labels will be provided. No protective gear is required. Details will be provided as kits are sent out to the community. One sample will be collected by each community each month for the next three years.
Jay
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Post by Andre Sobolewski on Oct 20, 2014 12:54:19 GMT -8
Hi Jay.
I watched the video describing sampling procedures and found it instructive. One question remains. At this time of the year, there are a lot of "floaties" in water near the shore and it might be difficult to collect a clean sample without some sort of screening or filtration. I expect they will gum up resins that recover radionuclides if enough is present in the sample.
How critical is it to have a sample free of algea and other debris? How much tolerance?
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Post by Jay T. Cullen on Oct 20, 2014 13:11:04 GMT -8
Hi Andre,
Suspended debris like algae and sediment should be minimized for the reasons you identify above. Ideally one would sample from a dock or exposed location to access the most debris clean water one can. If your location on the Sunshine coast is particularly particle rich we may have to use some gross filtration beforehand.
We also add a spike of Cs before resin preconcentration so we know how good, or bad our recovery of Cs is during extraction.
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