title: Judging survey quality: local variances.
abstract: The present study was undertaken to explore possibilities to judge survey quality on basis of a limited and restricted number of a-priori observations. Here, quality is defined as the ratio between survey and local variance (signal-to-noise ratio). The results indicate that the presented surveys do not permit such judgement. Furthermore, the discussion also suggests that the 5-fold local sampling strategies do not merit any sound judgement in about 10% of all cases. The results further imply that surveys will benefit from procedures, controls and approaches in sampling and sample handling, to assess both average, variance and the nature of the distribution of elemental concentrations in local sites. This reasoning is compatible with the idea of the site as a basic homogeneous survey unit, which is implicitly and conceptually underlying any survey performed.
authors.affiliation: University of Technology, Interfaculty Reactor Institute, Department of Radiochemistry, Nuclear Environmental Studies, Delft, The Netherlands. Wolterbeek@iri.tudelft.nl
authors.forename: H Th
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Wolterbeek
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Verburg
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D003625:Data Collection / Q000592:standards*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000592:standards*; D011786:Quality Control; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013048:Specimen Handling
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants