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

Author

Charlotte Rhoads, CUNY City CollegeFollow

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

First Advisor

Maria Tzortziou

Second Advisor

Kimberly Huppert

Third Advisor

Jonathan Sherman

Keywords

Dissolved organic matter, satellite remote sensing, urbanized estuary, Harmful Algal Blooms, bioavailability

Abstract

Optical measurements, from in situ 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.

Recommended Citation

Rhoads, Charlotte, "Optical Signatures of Bioavailable and Terrigenous Dissolved Organic Matter Across Long Island Sound and Hudson River Estuaries" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1233