title: Assessment of photochemical processes in marine oil spill fingerprinting.
abstract: Understanding weathering processes plays a critical role in oil spill forensics, which is based on the comparison of the distributions of selected compounds assumed to be recalcitrant and/or have consistent weathering transformations. Yet, these assumptions are based on limited laboratory and oil-spill studies. With access to additional sites that have been oiled by different types of oils and exposures, there is a great opportunity to expand on our knowledge about these transformations. Here, we demonstrate the effects of photooxidation on the overall composition of spilled oils caused by natural and simulated sunlight, and particularly on the often used polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the biomarker triaromatic steranes (TAS). Both laboratory and field data from oil released from the Macondo well oil following the Deepwater Horizon disaster (2010), and heavy fuel-oil from the Prestige tanker spill (2002) have been obtained to improve the data interpretation of the typical fingerprinting methodology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDAEA-CSIC, Barcelona 08034, Spain; Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
authors.forename: Jagoš R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Radović
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA; Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, ME 04544, USA.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aeppli
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
authors.forename: Robert K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Stilleweg 2, Hannover D-30655, Germany.
authors.forename: Núria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jimenez
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDAEA-CSIC, Barcelona 08034, Spain.
authors.forename: Josep M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bayona
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDAEA-CSIC, Barcelona 08034, Spain. Electronic address: albqam@cid.csic.es.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Albaigés
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D010578:Petroleum / Q000032:analysis*; D059392:Petroleum Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D055668:Photochemical Processes; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010578:Petroleum; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Oil fingerprinting; Oil spills; Photooxidation; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Triaromatic steranes