Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in aquatic environments exhibits distinctive fluorescence properties as a result of absorption of high-energy photons by DOM molecules and re-emission of lower-energy photons at longer wavelengths. This inherent spectral property of DOM is successfully utilised in characterisation of DOM with excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy. Since its first applications to characterisation of marine and terrestrial DOM nearly 20 years ago, the method has become highly prominent in DOM studies including characterisation of DOM composition, fingerprinting of aquatic DOM fractions and determination of general water quality. Its increasing popularity has reflected in a constantly growing number of submitted papers to peer-reviewed journals (220 in 2012) and number of journal citations (3200 in 2012).

The purpose of the session is to evaluate the current state-of-the-art of aquatic DOM-EEM research, bring together the fluorescence spectroscopy research community and provide a platform for knowledge and best practice exchange. In particular there is a growing need to monitor the advances in application of fluorescence spectroscopy in characterisation of aquatic systems, understanding the origin, transformations and environmental fate of fluorophores in aquatic environments and identification of robust numerical and statistical tools for EEMs processing, deconvolution and modelling.

We would like to welcome oral and poster contributions in the following research areas:

● Fluorescence properties of DOM from natural (streams, lakes, estuaries and marine ecosystems) and engineered systems (drinking water treatment, distribution system, wastewater treatment),

● Determination of spatial and temporal variability in DOM fluxes along the freshwater to marine continuum,

● Application of EEM fluorescence spectroscopy in understanding of biogeochemical processing in aquatic systems,

● EEM fluorescence spectroscopy as a part of monitoring programmes and laboratory bioassays,

● In situ applications of EEM fluorescence spectroscopy and portable sensors for online water quality monitoring,

● Chemical properties and the environmental role of fluorophores,

● Advanced signal processing and data mining techniques for robust EEMs analysis including supervised and unsupervised algorithms for EEMs deconvolution and component analysis.

Keynote lecture will be given by Professor Darren Reynolds:
Aquatic Organic Matter Fluorescence - from phenomenon to application