Jump to content

Dissolved Organic Matter: Difference between revisions

From OceanWiki
← Older editNewer edit →
Hagi BucknWise (talk | contribs)
Bureaucrats, Interface administrators, Administrators
185 edits
No edit summary
No edit summary
Line 2: Line 2:


== Overview ==
== Overview ==
At approximately 662 gigatons of carbon (GtC), Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) far outnumbers [[Particulate Organic Matter]], which includes organisms and marine snow, and constitutes more than 99% of organic carbon in the ocean's water column<ref>Hansell, D.A., C.A. Carlson, D.J. Repeta, and R. Schlitzer. 2009. Dissolved organic matter in the ocean: A controversy stimulates new insights. Oceanography 22(4):202–211, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2009.109</ref>. Yet, most DOM released by [[phytoplankton]], the primary source of DOM, is quickly degraded by [[heterotrophy | heterotrophs]] within hours to days<ref>Dittmar, T., Lennartz, S.T., Buck-Wiese, H. et al. Enigmatic persistence of dissolved organic matter in the ocean. Nat Rev Earth Environ 2, 570–583 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00183-7</ref>. As a result, the majority of DOM (~630 GtC) that is found in the ocean has a lifetime (determined via [[14C-carbon dating]]) of over 16,000 years<ref>Dittmar, T., Lennartz, S.T., Buck-Wiese, H. et al. Enigmatic persistence of dissolved organic matter in the ocean. Nat Rev Earth Environ 2, 570–583 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00183-7</ref>.  
At approximately 662 gigatons of carbon (GtC), Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) far outnumbers [[Particulate Organic Matter]], which includes organisms and marine snow, and constitutes more than 99% of organic carbon in the ocean's water column<ref>Hansell, D.A., C.A. Carlson, D.J. Repeta, and R. Schlitzer. 2009. Dissolved organic matter in the ocean: A controversy stimulates new insights. Oceanography 22(4):202–211, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2009.109</ref>. Yet, most DOM released by [[phytoplankton]], the primary source of DOM, is quickly degraded by [[heterotrophy | heterotrophs]] within hours to days<ref name="Dittmar et al. 2021">Dittmar, T., Lennartz, S.T., Buck-Wiese, H. et al. Enigmatic persistence of dissolved organic matter in the ocean. Nat Rev Earth Environ 2, 570–583 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00183-7</ref>. As a result, the majority of DOM (~630 GtC) that is found in the ocean has a lifetime (determined via [[14C-carbon dating]]) of over 16,000 years<ref name="Dittmar et al. 2021"/>.  
DOM is operationally classified into the following groups based on their lifetime<ref>Dittmar, T., Lennartz, S.T., Buck-Wiese, H. et al. Enigmatic persistence of dissolved organic matter in the ocean. Nat Rev Earth Environ 2, 570–583 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00183-7</ref>:
DOM is operationally classified into the following groups based on their lifetime<ref name="Dittmar et al. 2021"/>:
*labile DOM (removal within hours to days)
*labile DOM (removal within hours to days)
*semi-labile DOM (removal within weeks to months)
*semi-labile DOM (removal within weeks to months)
Line 12: Line 12:


== Definition by experimentalist ==
== Definition by experimentalist ==
DOM is operationally defined as organic carbon that flows through a [[GF/F glass fiber filter]], with the retentate on the filter being defined as [[Particulate Organic Matter]]. On a molecular level, DOM comprises thousands or even millions of unique structures<ref>Dittmar, T., Lennartz, S.T., Buck-Wiese, H. et al. Enigmatic persistence of dissolved organic matter in the ocean. Nat Rev Earth Environ 2, 570–583 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00183-7</ref>. Most studies investigating the molecular composition of DOM resort to [[PPL-SPE]], a moderately hydrophobic solid phase extraction technique designed to extract the largest possible amount of DOM from seawater while removing salts that can interfere with downstream analytical processes<ref>Dittmar, T., Koch, B., Hertkorn, N., Kattner, G., (2008), A simple and efficient method for the solid-phase extraction of dissolved organic matter (SPE-DOM) from seawater, Limnol. Oceanogr. Methods, 6, https://doi:10.4319/lom.2008.6.230</ref>. This fraction of DOM is called SPE-DOM (3).
DOM is operationally defined as organic carbon that flows through a [[GF/F glass fiber filter]], with the retentate on the filter being defined as [[Particulate Organic Matter]]. On a molecular level, DOM comprises thousands or even millions of unique structures<ref name="Dittmar et al. 2021"/>. Most studies investigating the molecular composition of DOM resort to [[PPL-SPE]], a moderately hydrophobic solid phase extraction technique designed to extract the largest possible amount of DOM from seawater while removing salts that can interfere with downstream analytical processes<ref>Dittmar, T., Koch, B., Hertkorn, N., Kattner, G., (2008), A simple and efficient method for the solid-phase extraction of dissolved organic matter (SPE-DOM) from seawater, Limnol. Oceanogr. Methods, 6, https://doi:10.4319/lom.2008.6.230</ref>. This fraction of DOM is called SPE-DOM (3).


== Definition by modeler ==
== Definition by modeler ==

Revision as of 14:28, 20 November 2025

Template:BreadcrumbsLexicon

Overview

At approximately 662 gigatons of carbon (GtC), Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) far outnumbers Particulate Organic Matter, which includes organisms and marine snow, and constitutes more than 99% of organic carbon in the ocean's water column[1]. Yet, most DOM released by phytoplankton, the primary source of DOM, is quickly degraded by heterotrophs within hours to days[2]. As a result, the majority of DOM (~630 GtC) that is found in the ocean has a lifetime (determined via 14C-carbon dating) of over 16,000 years[2]. DOM is operationally classified into the following groups based on their lifetime[2]:

  • labile DOM (removal within hours to days)
  • semi-labile DOM (removal within weeks to months)
  • semi-refractory DOM (removal over years to decades)
  • refractory DOM (removal over centuries to millenia)

Definition by experimentalist

DOM is operationally defined as organic carbon that flows through a GF/F glass fiber filter, with the retentate on the filter being defined as Particulate Organic Matter. On a molecular level, DOM comprises thousands or even millions of unique structures[2]. Most studies investigating the molecular composition of DOM resort to PPL-SPE, a moderately hydrophobic solid phase extraction technique designed to extract the largest possible amount of DOM from seawater while removing salts that can interfere with downstream analytical processes[3]. This fraction of DOM is called SPE-DOM (3).

Definition by modeler

Models represent DOM as groups of organic carbon as listed above (labile, semi-labile, semi-refractory and refractory) with varying lifetime as only descriptor[4], sometimes adding an ultra-refractory group[5].

References

  1. ↑ Hansell, D.A., C.A. Carlson, D.J. Repeta, and R. Schlitzer. 2009. Dissolved organic matter in the ocean: A controversy stimulates new insights. Oceanography 22(4):202–211, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2009.109
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Dittmar, T., Lennartz, S.T., Buck-Wiese, H. et al. Enigmatic persistence of dissolved organic matter in the ocean. Nat Rev Earth Environ 2, 570–583 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00183-7
  3. ↑ Dittmar, T., Koch, B., Hertkorn, N., Kattner, G., (2008), A simple and efficient method for the solid-phase extraction of dissolved organic matter (SPE-DOM) from seawater, Limnol. Oceanogr. Methods, 6, https://doi:10.4319/lom.2008.6.230
  4. ↑ Kim, H. H. (2025). BATS-1D-VAR v1.0: A One-Dimensional Variational Data Assimilative Biogeochemical Model of the Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study (BATS) Site. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17148897
  5. ↑ Emily J. Zakem et al., Functional biogeography of marine microbial heterotrophs. Science388, eado5323 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado5323

Contributors

Hagi BucknWise

Retrieved from "https://biogeoscapes.net//wiki/index.php?title=Dissolved_Organic_Matter&oldid=220"