Optical Signatures of Bioavailable and Terrigenous Dissolved Organic Matter Across Long Island Sound and Hudson River Estuaries

<p>Optical measurements, from <em>in situ</em> to satellite-based sensors, provide a powerful framework for examining the sources, sinks, and transport pathways of dissolved organic matter (DOM) across the land–ocean aquatic continuum. By integrating observations across spatial and temporal scales, optical properties are shown to encode fundamental processes governing DOM cycling in coastal systems. Results demonstrate that variability in DOM optical signatures reflects the interplay between biological production, microbial transformation, and hydrologic forcing. At the microscale, laboratory incubations and cultures with benchtop optical measurements quantified the bacterial transformation of marsh material and phytoplankton-derived DOM. At a larger spatial scale, remote sensing observations resolved riverine and basin-level export, enabling the study of mobilization events during extreme precipitation. These approaches show how optics provide a unifying framework for linking fine-scale biogeochemical mechanisms to large-scale patterns of DOM transport and fate in coastal ecosystems.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (M.S.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Rhoads, Charlotte

Contributors dc:contributor

• Maria Tzortziou
• Kimberly Huppert
• Jonathan Sherman

• Dissolved organic matter
• satellite remote sensing
• urbanized estuary
• Harmful Algal Blooms
• bioavailability
• Biogeochemistry
• Optics

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1233

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:cc_etds_theses-2397