Department of Biostatistics

Statistical interpolation of chemical concentrations at new locations is an important step in assessinga worker’s exposure level. When measurements are available from coastlines, as is the case incoastal clean-up operations in oil spills, one may need a mechanism to carry out spatial interpolationat new locations along the coast. In this article, we present a simple model for analyzing spatial datathat is observed over a coastline. We demonstrate four different models using two different representationsof the coast using curves. The four models were demonstrated on simulated data andone of them was also demonstrated on a dataset from the GuLF STUDY (Gulf Long-term Follow-upStudy). Our contribution here is to offer practicing hygienists and exposure assessors with a simpleand easy method to implement Bayesian hierarchical models for analyzing and interpolating coastalchemical concentrations.