Characterization of CDOM from urban waters in Northern-Northeastern China using excitation-emission matrix fluorescence and parallel factor analysis

Chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) plays an important role in aquatic systems, but high concentrations of organic materials are considered pollutants. The fluorescent component characteristics of CDOM in urban waters sampled from Northern and Northeastern China were examined by excitation-emission matrix fluorescence and parallel factor analysis (EEM-PARAFAC) to investigate the source and compositional changes of CDOM on both space and pollution levels. One humic-like (C1), one tryptophan-like component (C2), and one tyrosine-like component (C3) were identified by PARAFAC. Mean fluorescence intensities of the three CDOM components varied spatially and by pollution level in cities of Northern and Northeastern China during July–August, 2013 and 2014. Principal components analysis (PCA) was conducted to identify the relative distribution of all water samples. Cluster analysis (CA) was also used to categorize the samples into groups of similar pollution levels within a study area. Strong positive linear relationships were revealed between the CDOM absorption coefficients a(254) (R ² = 0.89, p < 0.01); a(355) (R ² = 0.94, p < 0.01); and the fluorescence intensity (F ₘₐₓ) for the humic-like C1 component. A positive linear relationship (R ² = 0.77) was also exhibited between dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and the F ₘₐₓ for the humic-like C1 component, but a relatively weak correlation (R ² = 0.56) was detected between DOC and the F ₘₐₓ for the tryptophan-like component (C2). A strong positive correlation was observed between the F ₘₐₓ for the tryptophan-like component (C2) and total nitrogen (TN) (R ² = 0.78), but moderate correlations were observed with ammonium-N (NH4-N) (R ² = 0.68), and chemical oxygen demand (CODMₙ) (R ² = 0.52). Therefore, the fluorescence intensities of CDOM components can be applied to monitor water quality in real time compared to that of traditional approaches. These results demonstrate that EEM-PARAFAC is useful to evaluate the dynamics of CDOM fluorescent components in urban waters from Northern and Northeastern China and this method has potential applications for monitoring urban water quality in different regions with various hydrological conditions and pollution levels.