Absorption and fluorescence characteristics of rainwater CDOM and contribution to Lake Taihu, China

We characterized the composition and sources of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in rainwater, and assessed the relative contribution of rainwater CDOM to lake water in Lake Taihu based on rainwater collected during 35 rainfall events in 2012. Chemical analysis, ultraviolet-visible absorbance, and three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy were used to characterize CDOM. The CDOM absorption coefficient at 254 nm (a254) had a significant seasonal variation, with a mean of 3.67 ± 1.69 m−1 in the wet season (from April to early August), which was significantly lower than the means in the two dry seasons (8.26 ± 2.94 m−1 from January to March, and 7.60 ± 3.80 m−1 from late August to December). The mean humification index and the mean index of recent autochthonous contribution were 0.74 ± 0.48 and 1.31 ± 0.35, respectively, indicating that rainwater CDOM was dominated by an atmospheric microbial origin component. We identified four fluorescence components using parallel factor analysis modeling in the rainwater CDOM, i.e., two protein-like components (C1 and C2) and two fulvic-like components (C3 and C4), which had characteristics similar to those of protein and humic-like substances, respectively. The a254 was significantly and positively (p < 0.001) correlated with each of the five nutrient parameters: total dissolved nitrogen (r2 = 0.76), ammonium (r2 = 0.65), nitrate (r2 = 0.36), total dissolved phosphorus (r2 = 0.55), and phosphate (r2 = 0.50) showing the tightly coupling between CDOM and nutrients. Based on the deposition of the rainwater CDOM and the storage of the CDOM in Lake Taihu, the annual relative contribution of rainwater CDOM to the lake water was 11.7% in 2012. The results showed the important effect of wet deposition on CDOM sources in Lake Taihu, which is located in a region with severe air pollution in the Yangtze River Delta.