Estimation of bias in the measurement of ‘hot spots’ on contaminated land

A synthetic sampling target has been constructed for the estimation of sampling bias and the estimation of measurement uncertainty, using inter-organisational sampling trials. The approach provides realistic estimates of uncertainty whatever sampling protocol is applied, which is in contrast to the idea of assuming that a 'correct' sampling protocol will give a representative, and unbiased sample. As this investigation is still in progress the complete results are not yet available.