Quantifying tropical peatland dissolved organic carbon (DOC) using UV-visible spectroscopy

Cook, Sarah; Peacock, Mike; Evans, Chris D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7052-354X; Page, Susan E.; Whelan, Mick J.; Gauci, Vincent; Kho, Lip Khoon. 2017 Quantifying tropical peatland dissolved organic carbon (DOC) using UV-visible spectroscopy. Water Research, 115. 229-235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.02.059

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.02.059

Abstract/Summary

UV–visible spectroscopy has been shown to be a useful technique for determining dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations. However, at present we are unaware of any studies in the literature that have investigated the suitability of this approach for tropical DOC water samples from any tropical peatlands, although some work has been performed in other tropical environments. We used water samples from two oil palm estates in Sarawak, Malaysia to: i) investigate the suitability of both single and two-wavelength proxies for tropical DOC determination; ii) develop a calibration dataset and set of parameters to calculate DOC concentrations indirectly; iii) provide tropical researchers with guidance on the best spectrophotometric approaches to use in future analyses of DOC. Both single and two-wavelength model approaches performed well with no one model significantly outperforming the other. The predictive ability of the models suggests that UV–visible spectroscopy is both a viable and low cost method for rapidly analyzing DOC in water samples immediately post-collection, which can be important when working at remote field sites with access to only basic laboratory facilities.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.02.059
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Emmett
ISSN:	0043-1354
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.
Additional Keywords:	DOC, tropical peat, water samples, spectrophotometry, Sarawak
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment Agriculture and Soil Science
Date made live:	13 Apr 2017 16:19 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/516854

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.02.059

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Emmett

ISSN:

0043-1354

Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:

Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.

Additional Keywords:

DOC, tropical peat, water samples, spectrophotometry, Sarawak