Life+ / Further Development and Implementation of an EU-levelForest Monitoring System (FutMon)
Action C1-QALab-30(NWD): Quality assurance in Laboratories
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European Union/United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
International Co-operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests
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Working Group on QA/QC in Laboratories
Minutes
Meeting of Working Group QA/QC in Laboratories
Tallinn, Estonia, 23. March 2011 from 8:30 to 13:00
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Dr. Nils König opened the meeting,welcomed the participants and expressed his gratitude to Dr.Endla Asi and Ms.Tiiu Timmusk from Estonian Environment Information Centre for all their efforts in faciliating this meeting.
Dr. Indrek Laas - Senior officer from Estonian Forestry Department of Ministry of Environment-welcomed the participants in Tallinn. Dr Laas underlined the importance of the forest in sustaining biodiversity and the importance of good quality of data collected in monitoring process and wished the QA/QC Group well in having a productive meeting.
13th Needle/Leaf Interlaboratory Test
Nils König on behalf of Dr.Alfred Fürst, (Chair of the Forest Foliar and Litterfall Expert Panel) presented the results of the 13th Needle/Leaf Interlaboratory Test. Samples of Foliage litter, oak leaves, spruce and pine needle were submitted to 60 participating laboratories in 29 countries for analysis. The deadline for the data submission for this foliar/litterfall ring test was 2011-01-02. A full evaluation of the results from the 13th Needle/Leaf Interlaboratory Test is available from theForest Foliar Co-ordinating Centre.
A summary of the main findings are detailed below:
Approximately half of the labs are or planned to be accredited for foliar/litterfall analysis; most of the laboratories are using control charts in daily routine. The oak leaves sample was used for 9th and the 13th ringtest. The results compare well , but they are in general a little bit higher than the results from the 9th test. A lot of laboratories haven’t reported the results on a dry weight (105°C) basis or applied the moisture factors incorrectly.The result for lead is the only one that is lower than in the 9th test – possibly due to the avoidance of contamination.
An evaluation of the results from the 3rd till the 13thfoliar ring testsclearly demonstrates a marked improvement in analytical capability of the participating laboratories, most particularly over the last three tests within the FutMon project.Amongst the reasons for this progress are availability of better analytical instrumentation, improvements in lab . methods, annual ringtest participation, QA/QC feedback (Qualification/Requalification, QA/QC forms for data submission) and the laboratory helping programme.
The re-qualification process is mandatory for all labs which want to submit monitoring data for 2010. The deadline is the 1st of October 2011 – for FutMon partners –although it would be better for all to have the re-qualification work completed and data submitted before the end of the FutMon project in June 2011!
The foliage/litterfall ringtest programme will be continued annually after FutMon. Preparation for the 14th test has already commenced with 25 laboratories registering their intention to participate to date. The cost will be covered – as in the past - from a participation fee. Although, the advertising, sample collection and preparation will be done partly from the participants own resources. So if anybody wants to volunteer to collect and prepare foliage, litterfall or ground vegetation samples, please contact Alfred Fürst via e-mail @ ().
- 3rd FutMon/5th ICP-Forests Deposition and Soil Solution Working Ring Test
Dr. Aldo Marchetto – presented the first results ofthe 3rd FutMon/5th ICP-Forests working ring test (WRT) for deposition and soil solution analyses that was carried out in 2011.
Fifty laboratories registered before February 1st 2011, and 46 uploaded the results to the WRT web site before the deadline of theMarch 18th, 2011, including all 36 FutMon labs.
Qualification report will be sent in April and the re-qualification procedure will be carried out between April and May.
Six samples were sent by METLA to the participating laboratories:
S1Open fieldVery low Ca and Mg
S2ThroughfallVery low conductivity
S3Soil solutionIntermediate
S4Soil solutionHigh DOC
SYN 5SyntheticHigh alkalinity and sodium
SYN 6SyntheticSlightly alkaline, for alkalinity measurement, only
A significantnumber of laboratories had some difficulties in analysing samples 1 and 2, because of thelow concentration (i.e. close to the quantification limit)of calcium, magnesium and potassium in the samples.
In the case of ammonium, ion chromatography shows a markedly higher dispersion of the results than other techniques.
The low conductivity of sample 2 also made it difficult to measure pH, with a significantnumber of labs (17 out of 46) reporting values outside the quality objectives.
The number of labs reporting results total nitrogen (43), DOC (44) and for alkalinity (43)also improved.
In general, the results of this WRT confirm the improvement of data quality noted in the previous WRTs.
As a possible reasonfor problems with determination of elements in low-concentrated samples, includes inappropriate calibration of instruments and/or high limits of quantification for some parameters. The later question will be discussed in detail at the Meeting of the Heads of the Labs in June 2011 in Arcachon, France.
3. Future Foliar, Soil and Soil Solution and Deposition Ring Tests.
NilsKönig on behalf of AlfredFürst presented a proposal on how to continue with the ringtest programme for the more expensive soil and deposition ringtests (>1000€/participant/test). There will be no extra funding from an EU project - such as FutMon –and therefore all costs must be financed from a participation fee. It is planned to reduce the “extended” ringtest evaluation to a “standard” format. The results will be evaluated with the median values and the tolerable limits instead of the outlier free mean value and the tolerable limits. Some statistical information will be lost with this evaluation, but all raw results will be stored and are available for a later extended evaluation. Anyhow the basic information for the labs passed or failed will available immediately on FFCC web-interface.
The work for re-programming the web-interface can be finished within FutMon. The participation fee/lab/test for the standard ringtest evaluation would be in the order of 600-1000€ per lab for participating in a soil ring test, 500 – 600€ for deposition, and 120€ for foliar. The new format for the ring tests will be presented in the next Head of Labs meeting in Arcachon, France.
It was decided to send a questionnaire to the heads of the labs before the meeting in Arcachon, asking about the possibility/willingness of incurring the costs of the ringtests by labs. Additionally Laboratories are asked/encouraged to involve in preparation of samples for ring-tests.
Self-financing of ring-tests is needed if no other funds are found. It was decided to reduce the frequency of ringtests toone foliar ring test per year, and deposition and soil solutionand soil ring tests every two and three years respectively.
It is proposed that the meeting of the heads of the labs will be held every two years.
The final decision about the proposed future ringtest programme and the “standard” ringtest evaluation system shall be made at the meeting of the Heads of the Labs in Arcachon, France.
4. Helping programme
During the FutMon programme,threeassistance/helping programmes took place, two are still ongoing.
In all, since the beginning of the WG QA/QC,ten labs had been assisted. Short presentationsabout the previous assistance programmesare to be delivered at the Meeting of the Heads of the Labs in June 2011 in Arcachon,France.
In the absence of future funding within ICP-Forest after FutMon programme is finished, anyhelp required by laboratories can only be extended via direct contact.The assistance programmecan only be sustained in the future at the expense of interested labs.
5. Preparation of the Meeting of the Heads of the Labs in Arcachon, France, June 2011
The registration to the next Meeting of the Heads of the Labs to be held in Arcachon, France, 16-17 June 2011 is open and can be made throughthe Web page.
Please, note that the registration deadlineis 15 April 2011.
Information on the meeting will be sent to NFC’s this week (28.03-1.04).
Results of 4th and 5thdeposition and soil solution ring-tests,12th and 13th foliar ring-tests will be presented as well as proposal of organization of ring-tests in future.
First results of quality information forms submitted to database within FutMon will be summarized.
As in the previous meetings, presentationsby participants are welcome, preferably on specific analytical problems, method and instrument comparisons, new instrumentation, calibration in low concentration range. Expected time per single presentation is 5-8 min, if longer is necessary, please contact Nils König.
6. Revision of the Manual
Dr. Oliver Granke will select minimum and maximum values for reported deposition and soil solution parameters based on the dataset from ICP-Forests database in order to check the plausible ranges, which are already published in the deposition manual but still missing from the quality manual.Potential relevance of plausible ranges for water samples will be discussed at the Meeting of the Heads of the Labsin Arcachon, France.
Anna Kowalska will update ISO methods quoted in Manual, part XVI, Quality Assurance and Control in Laboratoriesbefore Task Force meeting in 2012.
Excel files for solutions with high ion concentration and for soil solutions with high DOC concentration would be a useful tool for validation of the analytical results in laboratories.Aldo Marchetto will prepare the excel files and the relevant annex to Manual, to be presented at the Meeting of the Heads of the Labs in Arcachon, France.
Marco Feretti made a proposal to publish a book about Forest Monitoring. A chapter of it will be devoted to methods of data quality assesment in the lab. A team consisting of members of the WG QA/QC agreed to edit the chapter on the basis of existing Manual, part XVI.
7. Final reports of the FutMon C1-Actions
Reports of the deposition and soil solutions ring tests 2009, 2010, 2011, soil ring test 2009 and foliar ring tests 2009, 2010, 2011 are expected as an outcome of the FutMon C1-Actions.
While a special report on C1 QALab-30(NWD) is not an expected output under FutMon, nevertheless a brief QA status report, 1/2 (C1 QAC-15(IT), will be producedby Nils König.
8. Actual situation after FutMon funding
Amongsts the potential external sources of funding for monitoring-related activities, EU financial instruments have been selected including: Life+ (for Level I), COST action, 7th Framework Programme (for Level II).
New proposals are under consideration, deadline for submitting the proposal to Life+ is September 2011. The decision aboutthe leader of the project proposal has to be taken at the Task Force Meeting in Copenhagen, 15-19 May 2011at the latest.
In eventuality where there is no funding programme, the costs of ring-tests and all meetings (WG QA/QC, Heads of the Labs) will have to be resourced by the individual participants/countries.
9. Miscellaneous
Next meeting of the WG QA/QC will be possibly combined with other meetings of ICP-Forests, on a back to back basis. The exact date is to be decided when the next ring tests’time frame has been determined.
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