Natural organic matter (NOM) is the largest reservoir of reduced organic carbon on Earth, affecting C-N-P storage, metals availability, microbial activity, and the retention of organic contaminants, thereby modulating global biogeochemical cycles and processes. In seawater, NOM primarily exists in dissolved form as dissolved organic carbon (DOC), accounting approximately 662 Pg C, a value approximately equal to the atmospheric CO2 (750 Pg C). In terrestrial and atmospheric ecosystems, NOM accounts for around 1500 Pg C and 16 Tg C, respectively. Compositionally, NOM is a complex and heterogeneous mixture of thousands of organic substances with varying molecular sizes, physical and chemical properties, as well as a range of functional groups, including aromatic, aliphatic, phenolic and quinone structures. Currently <10% of NOM has been chemically characterized at the molecular level (as the sum lipids; amino acids and sugars) while, a plethora of molecular formulas in NOM isolated from various environmental compartments have been revealed from mass spectrometric techniques.
This session invites researchers with diverse expertise in spectroscopy (NMR, fluorescence, XPS) and mass spectrometry (Py-GC–MS; IR-MS, FTICR-MS; LC-MS-MS, FTMS; HR-MS) to present new findings and approaches on the composition and transformation of NOM including contaminants using the aforementioned techniques in the terrestrial, aquatic and atmospheric environment. We particularly welcome contributions that:
i) Introduce new methodologies and applications for HR-MS, FT-IRMS, and especially NMR—the latter, despite its potential, remains underexplored in environmental studies.
ii) Present innovative technologies for field study of NOM or monitoring of organic contaminants in the environment.
iii) Develop new practices for exploring, processing and storing biogeochemical data generated from spectroscopic and mass spectrometric techniques