Grayson, R and Holden, J (2011) Continuous measurement of spectrophotometric absorbance in peatland streamwater in northern England: implications for understanding fluvial carbon fluxes. Hydrological Processes, 26 (1). 27 - 39 (13). ISSN 0885-6087
Abstract
Bog systems tend to have a flashy hydrological regime with low baseflows and rapid and high storm peaks. Water derived from peatlands often contains significant amounts of organic humic and fulvic materials which form the largest fraction of the dissolved organic carbon component of the fluvial carbon flux. However, most estimates of dissolved organic carbon flux from peatlands are based on sampling that is infrequent and which may miss the periods of high flux during storm events. In order to better characterize the behaviour and fluxes of fluvial carbon it is necessary to operate more frequent sampling. This paper presents data from a continuously operating field-based spectrophotometer simultaneously measuring absorbance across 200–730 nm at 2·5 nm intervals in runoff from an upland peatland stream. It is shown that absorbance at different wavelengths that have previously been used to characterize dissolved organic carbon varies rapidly during storm events. The probe is shown to even detect changes in absorbance characteristics in response to rainfall events before the stream discharge starts to rise. The high-resolution behaviour of absorbance characteristics during storm events is different depending on the wavelength studied. Thus, the choice of wavelength used as a proxy for dissolved organic carbon needs careful attention and it may be that automated spectrophotometric methods which provide rich time-series data from across the spectrum can tell us more about fluxes, processes and sources of aquatic carbon in peatland systems in the future than traditional practices have hitherto allowed.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | (c) 2011, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Hydrological Processes. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy |
Keywords: | DOC; water colour; UV-Vis spectrometry; peat; environmental change network |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 13 Feb 2014 11:40 |
Last Modified: | 15 Sep 2014 02:11 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hyp.8106 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/hyp.8106 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:77451 |