Recent regulation mandates that ships conduct mid ocean ballast water exchange (BWE) prior to discharging foreign ballast in territorial waters of Australia, the U.S. and elsewhere. The enforcement of ballast water exchange legislation is undermined, however, by a lack of sensitive and reliable methods for verifying compliance. One way to assess compliance is to compare the concentrations of chemical tracers in ballast tanks with their known distributions in the open ocean. In this work, dissolved organic matter and trace elements are investigated as potential tracers of mid-ocean ballast water exchange on commercial voyages in the North Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The optical properties of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) are frequently used as tracers of water masses in bays and estuaries. Characterization of the underlying fluorescence spectra in seawater dissolved organic matter was performed using parallel factor analysis, allowing the identification of at least nine independently varying fluorescent components present in varying concentrations in the ocean and in ballast water. Two of the humic components were terrestrial in origin and their signals could be traced in the open ocean (Pacific and Atlantic) at levels of approximately 1.5% of riverine concentrations. One humic terrestrial component was sufficient for predicting the coastal vs. oceanic source of most ballast water samples, suggesting that single and dual channel fluorometers could be optimized for verifying ballast water exchange. Barium, manganese and phosphorus were also investigated as potential tracers. Measurements of Ba and P obtained via engine-cooling pipes on commercial vessels were consistent with previous oceanographic measurements. While Ba behaved conservatively in ballast water, concentrations of phosphorus fluctuated and Mn was removed in ballast tanks over time. Ba and P demonstrated considerable promise as ballast water tracers, exhibiting predictable concentrations in exchanged ballast tanks, given a priori knowledge of the ocean (Atlantic versus Pacific) in which BWE was performed.

Recent regulation mandates that ships conduct mid ocean ballast water exchange (BWE) prior to discharging foreign ballast in territorial waters of Australia, the U.S. and elsewhere. The enforcement of ballast water exchange legislation is undermined, however, by a lack of sensitive and reliable methods for verifying compliance. One way to assess compliance is to compare the concentrations of chemical tracers in ballast tanks with their known distributions in the open ocean. In this work, dissolved organic matter and trace elements are investigated as potential tracers of mid-ocean ballast water exchange on commercial voyages in the North Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The optical properties of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) are frequently used as tracers of water masses in bays and estuaries. Characterization of the underlying fluorescence spectra in seawater dissolved organic matter was performed using parallel factor analysis, allowing the identification of at least nine independently varying fluorescent components present in varying concentrations in the ocean and in ballast water. Two of the humic components were terrestrial in origin and their signals could be traced in the open ocean (Pacific and Atlantic) at levels of approximately 1.5% of riverine concentrations. One humic terrestrial component was sufficient for predicting the coastal vs. oceanic source of most ballast water samples, suggesting that single and dual channel fluorometers could be optimized for verifying ballast water exchange. Barium, manganese and phosphorus were also investigated as potential tracers. Measurements of Ba and P obtained via engine-cooling pipes on commercial vessels were consistent with previous oceanographic measurements. While Ba behaved conservatively in ballast water, concentrations of phosphorus fluctuated and Mn was removed in ballast tanks over time. Ba and P demonstrated considerable promise as ballast water tracers, exhibiting predictable concentrations in exchanged ballast tanks, given a priori knowledge of the ocean (Atlantic versus Pacific) in which BWE was performed.