New Publication in ACS Environmental Au Highlights the Importance of Photochemical Oxygen Consumption for Assessing Biological Activity in Sunlit Surface Waters

28.03.2025

Stable isotope analysis of dissolved oxygen is a useful tool to assess primary productivity in lakes and oceans. Despite evidence for light-dependent oxygen consumption in sunlit surface waters, photochemical oxygen loss processes have so far been neglected in the stable isotope-based evaluation of oxygen cycling.

The results from this study imply that photochemical oxygen consumption through the formation of singlet oxygen has similar effects on the stable isotopic composition of dissolved oxygen compared to biological respiration. Therefore, photochemical oxygen consumption should be included in future isotope-based evaluations of biogeochemical oxygen cycling in sunlit surface waters.

 

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