Quantification of natural DOM from UV absorption at two wavelengths
Edward Tipping A F , Heather T. Corbishley A , Jean-Francois Koprivnjak B , Daniel J. Lapworth C , Matthew P. Miller D , Colin D. Vincent A and John Hamilton-Taylor EA Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4AP, United Kingdom.
B Environmental and Resource Studies Program, Trent University, Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8, Canada.
C British Geological Survey, Maclean Building, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB, United Kingdom.
D Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.
E Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, United Kingdom.
F Corresponding author. Email: et@ceh.ac.uk
Environmental Chemistry 6(6) 472-476 https://doi.org/10.1071/EN09090
Submitted: 10 July 2009 Accepted: 3 November 2009 Published: 18 December 2009
Environmental context. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is part of the global carbon cycle, ecologically and geochemically active, and costly to remove in water treatment. Spectroscopic monitoring at a single wavelength provides some indication of DOM concentration, but variations in optical properties mean that accurate determinations currently rely on slow and costly laboratory methods. We show that for water samples containing non-anthropogenic DOM, ultraviolet absorbance at two wavelengths can quantify DOM rapidly, cheaply and accurately, and also indicate its quality.
Abstract. The precise simulation of ultraviolet absorption by 23 contrasting surface-water DOM samples was achieved with a model based on two components, one absorbing light strongly (A) and the other weakly (B). The parameterised model can be used to predict [DOC] in water samples simply from absorbance values at two wavelengths, while information on DOM quality is provided by the calculated fractionation into A and B. The model was tested by predicting [DOC] for a separate dataset obtained by combining results for 12 samples each from surface waters in the UK, Canada and the USA, and from UK groundwaters. A close correlation (R2 = 0.997) was obtained, with only slight underestimation of the true [DOC]. The proportions of components A and B varied considerably among the sites, which explains why precise prediction of [DOC] from absorbance data at a single wavelength was not possible. When the model was applied to samples collected from river locations in a heterogeneous UK catchment with areas of industry and high human population, [DOC] was underestimated in many cases, which may indicate the presence of non-absorbing pollutant DOM.
Additional keywords: dissolved organic carbon, dissolved organic matter, two-component model, UV spectra.
Acknowledgements
We thank the staff of the CEH Analytical Chemistry Laboratory and the BGS Wallingford Laboratory for assistance in sampling and analysis, P. J. Dillon (Trent University), and C. D. Evans, D. T. Monteith, A. P. Rowland and W. A. Scott (all CEH) for helpful discussions. We are indebted to M. Simonsson (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala) and R. Danielssen (University of Uppsala) for their critical and constructive comments, which led to a significantly improved final version of the paper. This work was funded in the UK by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), in Canada by an NSERC Strategic Grant and is published with the permission of the Director British Geological Survey (NERC).
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