https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2016.00007

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Faculty Publications

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Dissolved lignin is a well-established biomarker of terrigenous dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the ocean, and a chromophoric component of DOM. Although evidence suggests there is a strong linkage between lignin concentrations and chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) absorption coefficients in coastal waters, the characteristics of this linkage and the existence of a relationship that is applicable across coastal oceans remain unclear. Here, 421 paired measurements of dissolved lignin concentrations (sum of nine lignin phenols) and CDOM absorption coefficients [ag(λ)] were used to examine their relationship along the river-ocean continuum (0–37 salinity) and across contrasting coastal oceans (sub-tropical, temperate, high-latitude). Overall, lignin concentrations spanned four orders of magnitude and revealed a strong, non-linear relationship with ag(λ). The characteristics of the relationship (shape, wavelength dependency, lignin-composition dependency) and evidence from degradation indicators were all consistent with lignin being an important driver of CDOM variability in coastal oceans, and suggested physical mixing and long-term photodegradation were important in shaping the relationship. These observations were used to develop two simple empirical models for estimating lignin concentrations from ag(λ) with a ±20% error relative to measured values. The models are expected to be applicable in most coastal oceans influenced by terrigenous inputs.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2016.00007

APA Citation

Fichot, C. G., Benner, R., Kaiser, K., Shen, Y., Amon, R. M., Ogawa, H., & Lu, C.-J. (2016). Predicting dissolved lignin phenol concentrations in the coastal ocean from Chromophoric Dissolved Organic matter (CDOM) absorption coefficients. Frontiers in Marine Science, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2016.00007

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