[Photodegradation of chromophoric dissolved organic matter from Jiulong River Estuary under natural solar radiation].

Low salinity water sample collected from Jiulong River Estuary filtered using 0.2 microm Millipore filter was exposed to natural solar radiation from 10:00 to 16:00 each day during one week period in early and late May, 2005. Photodegradation of fluorescence and absorption properties of CDOM (chromophoric dissolved organic matter) was observed. The results showed that humic-like fluorescence (lambda Ex/lambda Em = 350/450 nm), tryptophan-like fluorescence (lambda Ex/lambda Em = 225/350 nm) and absorption coefficient of CDOM can be significantly photodegraded during short-term solar exposure in early summer. These photodegradation processes followed the first-order dynamic equation. The degradation half time of humic-like fluorescence, tryptophan-like fluorescence and a (280) were calculated as 3.5-5.1 d, 3.0-4.5 d and 6.3 d. The absorption loss spectra of CDOM indicated that the solar UV radiation was responsible for the photochemical degradation of CDOM. The loss of humic-like fluorescence (70%) was obviously higher than loss of a (280) (about 40%), suggesting that photobleaching ability of CDOM fluorophores were much stronger than CDOM chromophores. However, the correlation relationship between humic-like fluorescence and absorption coefficient are still kept. A250/A350 of CDOM increased till the end of radiation experiment compared with the control group, suggesting photodegradation may decrease the average molecular size of CDOM. These findings show that terrestrial CDOM can be transformed and removed by photochemical decomposition after transport into the sea, and photodegradation might be an important sink for terrestrial CDOM.