Report on further intercalibration analyses in ICES pollution monitoring and baseline studies

The results obtained from several earlier series of intercalibration exercises conducted by ICES for the analyses of heavy metals and organochlorines were described in an earlier report (Topping and Holden, 1978).

In the light of the experience gained from these exercises, the ICES Working Group on Pollution Monitoring and Baseline Studies in the North Atlantic decided that further intercalibration sampled for lead and cadmium should be distributed during 1977/78, and subsequently an exercise covering a wider range of elements was conducted in 1978/79. At the same time, a new intercalibration sample for organochlorine analysis was prepared and distributed containing lower concentrations of residues than the previous samples in accordance with the decision of the Working Group. As the samples used and analytical techniques involved in the determination of the two types of residues are quite unrelated, the first section of the report deals with the trace metal analyses and the following section with those for organochlorine residues.