Multivariate evaluation of the fluorescence of aquatic organic matter Original Research Article

Analysis of three-dimensional fluorescence spectra has proved to be a valuable tool in the characterisation of fluorescent dissolved organic matter (FDOM). Application of multivariate methods is a development that further enhances the capabilities of fluorescence spectroscopy for qualitative as well as quantitative analysis. In this work, principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares regression (PLS) are applied on fully corrected excitation–emission matrices (EEMs). The relation between sampling site and fluorescence properties in a coastal environment is analysed with PCA and PLS. The applicability of fluorescence spectroscopy and multivariate analysis for the evaluation of properties of humic substances (HS) is discussed.