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Amino acids are the material basis of almost all life activities. An improved understanding of the source, state, and cycle of amino acids is essential for determining the energy flow and material circulation of marine ecosystems. In the present study, an in situ rapid detection method of ultraviolet (UV, 266 nm) laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) technology was used to detect three natural, aromatic amino acids in the seawater. The laser-induced fluorescence peaks of aromatic amino acids tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine were located at 350 nm, 300 nm, and 280 nm, respectively. High, linear correlations between the concentrations of the aromatic amino acids and the fluorescence peak heights were observed, and the lowest detectable concentrations of tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine were 4.70 &times, 10&minus, 9 mol/L, 2.76 &times, 8 mol/L, and 6.05 &times, 7 mol/L, respectively, which allowed us to quantify their concentrations by using laser-induced fluorescence. This paper not only provides a practical method for the detection of aromatic amino acids in seawater, but a new means to further understand the biogeochemical processes of carbon cycles in the deep sea.

The accurate estimate of surface chlorophyll a concentrations (Chla) by remote sensing presents a number of challenges where inherent and apparent optical properties have significant spatial or temporal variability. Indeed, Chla algorithms for Case 2 waters are often lake or region specific, and they are usually highly sensitive to changes in the dominant chromophoric constituents. This study develops and validates an absorption-specific approach to estimating Chla across an optically heterogeneous dataset. The approach is based on the classification of the optically dominant constituent. We tested this approach with in situ data from Taihu Lake, Poyang Lake, Chaohu Lake, Shitoukoumen Reservoir, Pearl River Estuary and Daya Bay as well as using HydroLight simulated data. The results show an improved performance when compared to most single Chla algorithms. We validated the approach with data from the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). Results showed that this absorption-specific approach provided good Chla estimates over clear to very turbid waters with a wide range of optical conditions (R2 = 0.76, rRMSE = 35%, n = 230, p

A two step approach was developed to estimate POC concentrations in a shallow eutrophic lake, where dissolved carbon and inorganic particulate matter strongly influence optical properties. The approach was based on the identification of a co-variability of POC concentrations with one or more inherent optical properties (IOPs). In the present case, a relationship between POC and absorption at 620 nm was identified and was combined with a reflectance based algorithm for case II waters. Compared with other published POC algorithms, this approach provided better estimates over a wide range of POC concentrations in two hypereutrophic lake waters with the predominance of cyanobacteria (R(2) > 0.80). While it is unlikely that a single POC algorithm can be created that is independent of the variability of POC sources, this approach allows for a common method to identify appropriate algorithms with which POC dynamics can be explored.

Spectral absorption properties of total suspended matter (TSM) and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) are important for the use of the bio-optical model to estimate water quality parameters. This study aims to investigate the variation in the absorption coefficients of TSM and CDOM of inland waters. A total of 92 water samples were collected from Shitoukoumen Reservoir and Songhua Lake in Northeast China, analyzed for TSM and Chl-a, and measured for the absorption coefficient of TSM, CDOM and total pigments using a laboratory spectrophotometer. The absorption coefficient of TSM has been decomposed for phytoplankton and inorganic sediments. The results show that for Shitoukoumen Reservoir, CDOM has strong absorptions with shallow absorption slopes (i.e., the coefficient S in a(λ)=a(λ0)exp[-S(λ- λ0)]) and large absorption at 355 nm; and for Songhua Lake, CDOM follows similar spectral absorption curves but less variation in the S value. The results also show TSM has the average absorption coefficient 5.7 m-1 at 440 nm and 0.93 m-1 at 675 nm, and their concentration is well correlated to TSM with R2 larger than 0.85 at 440 nm over both Songhu Lake and Shitoukoumen Reservoir. In summer, CDOM was mainly terrigenous and had a high proportion of humic acid derived from the decomposition of phytoplankton and there were no obvious difference of S value. The results indicate that inorganic sediments contributed much more absorption than phytoplankton pigments in Shitoukoumen Reservoir than that in Songhua Lake, and there is strong association of TSM concentration to absorption coefficient at 440 nm.

Optical approaches were developed to examine the relationship between the optically active and the optically inactive fractions of dissolved organic carbon in inland waters. A multiple linear regression model was developed on the basis of an extensive dataset from Taihu Lake, and validated employing data from another large shallow eutrophic lake (Chaohu Lake) in southern China. The model was used to estimate the concentration of dissolved organic matter (n = 191) using the absorption characteristics of its chromophoric fraction with a high correlation coefficient (R2 = 0.62) and a low root mean squared error (RMSE = 9.67%). This intra-ecosystem validity allows us to improve our understanding of carbon dynamics using optical remote sensing approaches for these optically complex lakes, where multiple sources and sinks of dissolved organic matter were present.