Spectral Modelling of Estuarine Coloured Dissolved Organic Matter

Abstract

Measuring coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM) holds advantage over dissolved organic carbon (DOC) determination, as it can be remotely estimated unlike the latter, for which it can potentially act as a proxy. The CDOM absorbance, by definition, falls exponentially with wavelength of light () in the ultravioletvisible region. Investigating over 800 absorption spectra of water samples from the tropical monsoonal Godavari estuary and the Chilika brackish water lagoon, we found that the spectral slope (S) of the 330-440 nm region (S 330-440 ) is best suited to retrieve CDOM and its exponential character.